Approximately 35 literacy practitioners in Pennsylvania were trained and mentored in action research from July 1995-June 1996. The project used two models of delivery. With a team of five trainers/mentors, the urban model was developed in the Pittsburgh and Erie western region and an outreach model was used in the northern, northeastern, and…

This document, which is intended to assist adult literacy staff development and training personnel working at the state, district, and program levels, contains considerations and guidelines essential for an effective, comprehensive staff development and training program. Discussed in Section 1, which is an overview of staff development and…

In an effort to respond to Vermont teachers' and tutors' need for learning disabilities instruction, the Stern Center for Language and Learning developed a model program to teach adults with learning disabilities. The program included 12 hours of instruction presented over Vermont interactive television to over 100 adult basic education (ABE)…

A statewide needs assessment surveyed felt training needs of administrators, instructors, and advisors of adult literacy programs in Florida. Data were collected in the following ways: questionnaires sent to recipients of Adult Supplemental Grants and advisory-council chairpersons; indepth interviews; a literature review and document analysis; and…

The purpose of the project reported here was to develop a model of strategies to facilitate parental access to schools and educational services and to increase parental understanding of school district procedures and practices. Other objectives of the project were as follows: improve participating parents' communication skills and self-confidence;…

A study examined the acceptability of distance education as a means of staff development for literacy and adult basic education (ABE) providers in rural Pennsylvania and the perceived need and available resources for such a program. The major project activities were a review of the literature on literacy staff development by distance education in…

This literature search represents what is considered to be a majority of the relevant information on ABE staff training that has appeared post-1965. Primary focus of the search was on identifying concrete models for possible replication; however, other material that has practical or descriptive value for the field of adult basic education is also…

A project was conducted to provide staff development opportunities to adult education instructors so they could use the Adult Informal Measures developed at the University of Pittsburgh, with a long-range goal of creating a staff development model for the use of informal assessment in adult education programs by instructors with varying expertise…

This digest of 310 Project evaluation methods is intended to provide examples of and guidelines for evaluating 310 projects at the national, state, and project levels. The first section, which is devoted to state-level 310 evaluation projects, includes a report on a longitudinal study assessing the impact of 310 projects in Florida, a report…

Any proposal for training has to satisfy two major components: it must be job relevant and be accomplished without major interruption of work schedules, while incorporating strategies to help eliminate absenteeism. One recently developed model for basic skills training, the Immersion Instructional Model, meets these criteria and provides…

Poor preparation of adult literacy educators is often blamed for the failure of adult literacy students. Four critical issues related to developing the adult literacy professional work force are as follows: how literacy is learned in adulthood; how practitioners learn and improve their practice; how new knowledge is generated in and for the field;…

Inquiry-based staff development is a promising direction for rethinking practice and research and for generating knowledge from a field-based perspective for adult literacy. Rethinking staff development entails investigating a number of current assumptions: the nature and function of literacy learning in adulthood; adult literacy practitioners as…

This guidebook presents a collaborative or team-based model of workplace basic education. It is written particularly for practitioners--the adult educators and company and union representatives who do the work of planning, carrying out, and evaluating basic skills-related activities in the workplace. Chapter 1 provides background, assumptions that…

This paper describes a successful facilitator training model, developed as part of an Adult Basic/Continuing Education (AB/CE) staff development program in Minnesota. The following topics are included: (1) the new basics and what is taught in the Minnesota AB/CE programs; (2) how these new basics are taught, emphasizing Malcolm Knowles' model of…

The document provides a process model for a competency-based adult high school diploma program. Following an overview, the document is arranged into nine chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on starting such a program and gives suggestions for conducting needs assessment, setting up a planning group, implementing adult basic education awareness activities,…