SHOP
TALK # 9:
Preparing to Deliver Workforce-Related ABE
Published August 28, 2006
This information couldn’t have come at a better time. Industry
is moving back into our area, and I received a call just last week
from a company interested in having ESL instruction on site. I
read the Workplace ESL Guide from cover to cover
on the trip home from Ft. Davis! Now how do I arrange
for professional development?
New
Adult Education Director
A number of adult education programs have been receiving calls from
local employers interested in arranging for language and basic skills
instruction to be offered on site. Many program directors are anxious
about this, wondering what to say to employers, how to determine the
kind of instruction needed, and how to prepare instructors to deliver
instruction focused on work-related needs.
Professional development is available to adult education program administrators
and instructional staff by making a request to one of the eight GREAT
Centers serving adult education programs across the state. The
professional development is in modular form so that specific needs can
be addressed in phases. The first four modules are primarily
intended for program administrators, although some program directors
want instructors to understand the entire process. Modules five
and six focus on instruction and assessment.
Module One: Determining
Your Program Capacity and the Services You Can Provide
Module Two: Identifying
Local Labor Market needs and Conducting an Instructional Needs Analysis
Module Three: Facilitating a Team
of Stakeholders to Plan, Implement, and Sustain a Continuum of Services
Module Four: Drawing Up an
Agreement: Defining and Agreeing Upon Mutual and Achievable Goals
and Objectives
Module Five: Planning
Curriculum and Delivering Contextual Instruction Based on Identified
Needs (primarily for instructors and instructional coordinators)
Module Six: Monitoring,
Measuring, and Reporting Learner Progress and Program Success (important
for program administrators and instructional staff)
Once you have identified your professional development needs, follow
these steps:
- Complete the online Workplace ESL Readiness Inventory for Program
Directors (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?A=140038548E8093).
- Review the module descriptions above and prioritize your needs and
those of your instructional staff. Select the modules that best
address your needs.
- Identify instructors / instructional coordinators you would like
to have participate in the modular training, and submit their names
to the Workplace Instructor Cadre; this will enable you to build your
own local expertise. You and identified staff will then be an
inventory focused on instructional issues. This inventory will
provide additional focus.
- Contact the GREAT Center serving your area to request training.
Note: If you have an immediate need for technical
support (you just took a call from an employer requesting services!),
contact Barbara Tondre at btondre@earthlink.net,
or call (512) 251-0046.
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