Question and Answers from the TETN on August 21, 2006

1. What percentage of adult education students has learning disabilities?
Estimates from the Department of Labor and OVAE are from 30-80%. There are probably more students in adult ed who have co-existing conditions such as depression and mental illness, who are in need of special help to succeed in class. We need to serve all students in adult education, which encompasses many problems and life issues that may not specifically indicate a learning disability.

2. Do you need a legal definition for ADA purposes to effectively serve students?
Probably not unless the student needs the accommodations for taking the GED Test, in the workplace and to go on to post-secondary education.

3. In the second year of training, will there be training for the trainers?
The Professional Development Model will start with about 40 teachers/participants who will participate in 4 sessions of 3 day trainings throughout the 1st year (a total of 12 days). Between the training sessions, the participants will be expected to practice in the classroom using the techniques learned and then come back to the next session to report the results.

The second year of training will be with another group of 40 teachers/participants, plus 10 teachers from year 1 will be chosen to become Master Trainers. Those 10 incredible teachers will help train the new group and also be coached an extra day along with the 12 days of regular training.

4. How does this fit in with the Master Teacher credential?
Texas LEARNS will have to see how this fits in the Master Teacher Credential.

5. Does this training include ABE and ESL students?
Absolutely.  ESL teachers have found this training to be very applicable to their students. Eventually, all teachers will be able to conduct a brief interview process with all of their students to build rapport and identify the students who may need some further assistance with regard to special learning needs.

The only piece that does not fit for the ESL students is the Payne Learning Needs Inventory. Nancie Payne and Neil are working on a solution to this problem.

6. How do the teachers get trained?
A complete systems change takes time, at least a process of about 5 years initially to penetrate to all layers of staff in Adult Education. Initially, the first couple of years the training will be very intense and include a great deal of follow-up to find out what works and what doesn’t.

7. Do the 40 teachers have to be full time or part time employees?
That does not matter. These folks will need to be able to commit to the year long training, plus be willing to be a leader in their organization to provide coaching and mentoring of fellow teachers and staff.

8. Who will pay for all of this training including the subs needed while the participants are in training?
Good question, one that Texas LEARNS still needs to work out.

9. How does the training translate to the 2800 + teachers in the state?
Once the Master Trainers are trained they will begin to train perhaps 20 or more teachers at a time. The smaller the group being trained the less time the subsequent training will take. For example, a trainer who has a group of about 20 teachers to train may only need 8 days to train the smaller group instead of 12 days.

Remember, it will take about 2 years to get Master Trainers ready to train others in the state. Meanwhile, during that first two years two groups of 40 teachers will be trained and those teachers can then mentor and train more teachers. System change does take at least 5 years to affect the whole state. Brief band-aid training doesn’t really help in the long run. Any worthwhile training will take time.

10. Is the trainer required to be a Texas certified teacher?
No.

11. Based on the diagram that Neil explained, will there be money for diagnostic testing?
First of all, there is never enough money in Adult Education programs. That being said, there are some viable options that should be explored statewide and in the local community. For example:

• Survey to psychologists through the American Psychological Association to find out who would be willing to do some pro-bono diagnostic testing.
• Texas Rehabilitation Services
• Texas Workforce Commission, TANF funds
• Graduate Students

The goal of effective instruction is to enable all students to succeed in all aspects of their lives. Those students who do need to have accommodations to level the playing field for them with regard to the GED Test, in the workforce and in post-secondary education; these are the students who need diagnostic testing.

12. Where can I get the handouts from this TETN?
The handouts will be posted on the TCALL website

13. Will the local programs be able to use the local LD plan that may already be in place at their organization?
Yes, any local policy in place through the local organization will be a plus to the state policy. Every local program should be able to address all disabilities, not just learning disabilities in accordance with the American with Disabilities Act. 

14. How should the programs use the barriers they identified through theEgrant process on PS3400, Equitable Access and Participation, in planning their local policy?
There will only be a State Policy in place which will be in line with the American with Disabilities Act. The local programs should use the state policy to develop local procedures.

15. How do local programs find pro-bono or low cost diagnosticians and assessments for their students in their community?
Part of this question is answered in #7. Another place to look for resources would be in the K-12 environment. Remember though, once teachers are trained to give the Payne Learning Needs Inventory to students who they suspect may have a learning disability, then only those students who rise to the top after that need to be referred for diagnostic testing.

This is definitely one of the greatest issues in Adult Education nationwide.

16. Will the GED Testing Center accept testing documentation and assessment information from a graduate student doing assessments for their clinicals?
Yes, in fact, this can be the best testing available since the student will want to make a good grade and the professor who must sign off on the testing will want his graduate student to do good work.

17. What is the definition of a “reasonable accommodation”?
A reasonable accommodation is an accommodation that:

• Works within your system,
• Does not provide an undue hardship for the program or fundamentally alter or change program activities or services,
• Need not be the most expensive accommodation available, as long as it is effective for its purpose.

Most accommodations are within the $25 range or less and include things that are easily obtained. Students, employers, teachers and staff can call the Job Accommodations Network (JAN) at 1-800-ADA-WORK to access this free service funded by federal dollars to get advice regarding accommodations for the classroom and in the workplace.

18. If diagnostic testing indicates the need for accommodations in the classroom where does the money come from?
The most common myth is that accommodations are going to cost a lot of money. Most accommodations are $25 or less. Also, just because a psychologist suggests accommodations does not mean you have to provide them. We are all professionals in Adult Education, so it will be important for the Adult Ed professionals to collaborate with the psychologists in the community to discuss these issues. The student also should be very involved in this process, they are adults. Often, they are the ones who already know what it is they need. It is important to teach the student how to be empowered.

19. Where does Section 504 come in?
The American with Disabilities Act of 1973 (ADA) has additional layers that actually covers everything in Section 504 in a greater and bigger way.

20. Can I get access to the Payne Learning Needs Inventory?
The Payne Learning Needs Inventory is a tool that requires training to use and is copyrighted. Once the teachers begin to be trained to use this tool then they will be able to make the copies needed to use it. The initial group to be trained will also be involved in determining the criteria to move forward and use the Payne Inventory statewide.

You can read more about the Inventory in the 1998 book entitled Learning Disabilities, Literacy and Adult Education, Edited by Susan Vogel and Stephen Reder, Brookes Publishing, MD.

21.  Is the Payne Learning Needs Inventory the same tool as the Washington Screen?
No, the Payne Inventory has different versions depending on the audience with the exception of the ESL population.

22. What is the difference between Bridges to Practice and this training for Effective Instruction in Adult Basic Education For All Students: Including Those With Special Learning Needs?
The Bridges to Practice training provides an excellent foundation in understanding special learning needs (disabilities), especially learning disabilities.  It provides an overview of screening and screening issues and information on what screening can and cannot accomplish.  It also provides information on assessment that leads to diagnosis and on effective instructional methodologies.  In addition, the Bridges training provides teachers with resources that may help them determine, from the numerous tools and materials available, what things they might possibly use when working with a student with a learning disability.  The Bridges to Practice training does not provide explicit training on specific tools and specific researched effective instructional techniques that adult education instructors should be using. 

The long-term training, Effective Instruction in Adult Basic Education For All Students: Including Those With Special Learning Needs, provides specific information on disabilities, including learning disabilities and attention disorders.  It provides training on specific tools, techniques, and strategies that have been research proven.  It trains instructors, adult education teachers, on initial interviewing, the gathering of information and diagnostic-prescriptive instruction.  It teaches them how to administer, use, and score the Payne Learning Needs Inventory.  It teaches instructors how to be co-investigators with students and work with them on their specific needs and goals.  It supports adult educators in understanding student’s specific strengths and needs (weak areas) and supports researched proven effective instructional techniques.  It supports instructor’s abilities to help students with goal setting.  It teaches educators how to teach, for example, phonological awareness tasks, comprehension questioning, strategy instruction and specific strategies in reading comprehension, writing, and math, and the development and use of advanced organizers with students.

The methods used in the Effective Instruction in Adult Basic Education For All Students: Including Those With Special Learning Needs training include interactive, multi-sensory, hands-on, experiential learning activities.  These activities include such things as group discussion, informational handouts, demonstration (to provide examples of desired behavior and out­comes), modeling (to show participants how they would actually work with students using specific techniques) brainstorming, question and answer sessions, multi-media presentations, and indepen­dent/small group practice (individual application of skills acquired).  Many role-playing activities and specific modeling and demonstrations of specific instructional methods are included.  Following each workshop session participants are given independent practice activities to work on prior to the next workshop session.  These activities will help increase learning power for each participant and build on the goals and objectives of the entire long-term training.  These are specific activities that instructors will use with students in adult education classrooms to support their effectiveness as instructors, support their instructional abilities and enhance student learning.

23. If someone has already been through the Bridges to Practice Training do they have to go through the Effective Instruction in Adult Basic Education For All Students: Including Those With Special Learning Needs training?
There are many issues that still need to be decided by Texas LEARNS regarding the rollout of this training. Anyone who has already been through Bridges to Practice training has an excellent foundation with which to build on with further training which Effective Instruction training will do. It is definitely recommended that anyone who has not already gone through Bridges Training do so because again it is a great foundation for understanding the issue of Learning Disabilities.

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