Too often the professional development provided for teachers of mathematics is a short-term, one-shot effort. Today's shrinking budgets, increasing class sizes, and growing demands on teachers' time present further challenges. For the past six years, staff development efforts in the author's district have focused on language arts with little…

The Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council (GPLC) has made a strong commitment to professional development for its paid staff and ongoing training for its volunteers. During its 25-year history, GPLC has faced three challenges as it implemented its current staff development system. In this article, the author discusses these three challenges: (1)…

This self-directed staff development project was organized in order to utilize the learning-on-your-own concept within the context of professional development. Information is provided about the project's organization, about the types of learning projects undertaken, about barriers and aids to completing the projects, and about the role of…

Throughout 1993-94, a team of adult education practitioners and state staff from the Kentucky Department for Adult Education and Literacy developed a staff development system for adult educators in the state. Input was gathered from the staff development advisory committee, from student and teacher focus groups, and through other public and…

This special issue of a quarterly newsletter describes a number of approaches to staff development in adult basic education and English-as-a-Second-Language programs being practiced in New York City. It includes an editorial about the necessity of making the resource commitment to provide full-time jobs and decent health coverage for staff.…

The purpose of this report was to develop a plan for adult education staff development directed towards enhancing and expanding the delivery of training to Adult Basic Education (ABE), General Educational Development (GED), and English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) staff in Pennsylvania. It is intended to provide guidance and direction to adult…

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…

Two articles are presented relevant to media and adult learning. In the first article, "The Pedagogy of Communication: Conscientization through Mass Media," David G. Gueulette sets forth ideas derived from Freire's theory of literacy training and suggests means by which effective teaching strategies can be developed through popular mass…

The Greater Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Literacy Council (GPLC) is a volunteer-based literacy council that provides adult basic and literacy education services to the area's citizens. The GPLC conducted an action research project to determine whether adding monthly meetings for professional teaching staff and providing opportunities for interaction…

The Administrative Leadership Institute offered a Leadership Institute, Regional Group Meetings, and online support to administrators of adult basic and literacy education programs in Pennsylvania. The program was developed following a needs assessment that gathered information from administrators in the state. The Leadership Institute, held in…

Addresses salient questions raised by a research project on interrelationships between adult literacy and English as a Second Language. A basic issue discussed is how "pedagogy" itself should be addressed in this context: i.e., how does it relate to curriculum content and how do theory and practice come together in this area? (Contains…

This guide and accompanying supplement seeks to promote ongoing professional development activities suitable for traditional adult education, as well as basic skills instruction in other learning environments by doing the following: (1) broadening the base of professional development approaches; (2) enhancing individual choice of appropriate…

The Pennsylvania Adult Literacy Practitioner Inquiry Network (PALPIN) project was conducted to establish statewide and regional inquiry groups to help adult literacy practitioners improve their performance by raising and investigating issues meaningful to their day-to-day practice. The conceptual framework underlying Philadelphia's Adult Literacy…

Project Educational Quality in Adult Literacy (EQuAL) was initiated to improve the quality of adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) services provided to adult learners in Pennsylvania. Project EQuAL's objectives were as follows: (1) set performance standards to facilitate delivery of quality ABLE programs to adult learners; (2) institute a…