Hello Jackie and others,

In some parts of Massachusetts -- and in many other states -- turnover 
is a big problem.  In other places, it isn't.  I am interested in 
developing a good list of realistic current categories of adult literacy 
education teaching/PD situations and developing appropriate PD 
strategies for each category.  Here's a first try.  Perhaps there are 
other categories.  Perhaps there are other strategies.  Perhaps some 
will not agree that we need different levels of PD investments in the 
three categories.  Let's see.

1. Full-time teachers, with benefits and reasonable salaries, who have 
been in the field at least ten years.  These folks are prime candidates 
for a significant investment with in-depth PD as they are part of our 
stable workforce. We should make a major investment in them.

2. Part-time teachers who also have full-time jobs during the day in 
K-12. These folks are a stable part of the workforce but they have 
limited time for PD -- it would need to be paid time on weekends or in 
the summer. We should make an intermediate level investment in them.

3. New-to-the-field, part-time or full-time teachers. These folks often 
need a lot of introductory level PD, but they may not last long in a 
field which cannot offer reasonable salaries and benefits and full-time 
work.  Often they migrate to K-12 or higher ed or out of education.  We 
must provide them with help, but if we make a major PD investment we may 
not see a return, at least not to adult education students. One could 
argue -- I certainly do -- that we need more full-time positions for 
them, that we need to _keep_ them in the field.  But we also need to 
look at the current reality, and our limited PD resources, and not waste 
them.  Very frustrating, but also sensible I think.

What do others think?

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net




Taylor, Jackie wrote:


> Hi Sandra! It's great to hear from you on the list. Thanks for taking 

> the time to share.

>

>  

>

> Sandra, you mentioned more than once about high turnover among ESOL 

> teachers in Tennessee. I'd like to hear from others on this list as 

> well. What are others' experiences of teacher turnover - what are you 

> noticing in your area? Is "a lot" of turnover unique to ESOL or to 

> Tennessee? Is turnover high in other locations and/or among other 

> adult education teaching populations? And what constitutes "high 

> teacher turnover?" When does it become an issue upon which we should 

> act, and how would we know?

>

>  

>

> I look forward to hearing from you, Jackie

>

>  

>

> Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator, 

> jataylor at utk.edu <mailto:jataylor at utk.edu>

>

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