This is a topic dear to my heart since in the 1990's I served as Coordinator for a Texas Statewide Training Project at Texas A&I in Kingsville. We conducted extensive research in the area of MULTILEVEL ESL CLASSES in particular, which our teachers have found particularly frustrating. We found the following, in varying degrees, very successful:
1. Grouping by vocations
2. Grouping by language acumen
3. Grouping by age
4. Layered Approach (with lowest ability level in front and highest in the back)
 
These were the most popular solutions used with our AE practitioners in Texas during my tenure as Coordinator. These are included in our publication, which is subsequently out of print: Multilevel ESL Strategies Training Module. Otherwise I have another publication, ESL Multilevel Handbook (1990) which is available off the LISTserve. You are more than welcome to contact my office:  drclark at southtexascollege.edu for more information. I hope this helps. All the best! Dr. Melvin Clark
 

________________________________

From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Kenneth Sarvia
Sent: Sun 2/25/2007 11:31 AM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 879] Re: from Tom, PD Self-Study Course


Hi Educators of America,
I'm a member of a group of teachers from around the United States who are involved in correctional education..  We are taking an online course from California State University, San Bernardino.  This class studies classroom instruction and insrtuctional practices for multi-level students.  We are asking professional eductional organization, if they would be kind enough to answer the following question.  How do we maintain our instructional role in a multi-level classroom using computers/ instructional materials/instructional practices?  The curriculum is adult basic education and general education for high school diploma.  
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
 
Kenneth M. Sarvia 

"Carr, Karen" <Carr_K at cde.state.co.us> wrote:

	Thanks Debra. Karen
	
	________________________________
	
	From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Fawcett, Debra
	Sent: Sat 2/24/2007 11:46 AM
	To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
	Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 877] Re: from Tom, PD Self-Study Course
	
	
	
	Attached in Word and PDF is Dr. Sticht's message and syllabus/resources
	with URLs embedded. 
	
	Debra Fawcett
	Colorado Dept. of Education
	Adult Education and Family Literacy
	201 E. Colfax Ave., Denver, CO 80203
	fawcett_d at cde.state.co.us
	
	
	-----Original Message-----
	From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
	[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Taylor,
	Jackie
	Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 2:44 PM
	To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
	Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 876] from Tom, PD Self-Study Course
	
	The following is posted on behalf of Tom Sticht. Please read on, and
	have a great weekend! Best, Jackie Taylor
	
	-----Original Message-----
	From: tsticht at znet.com [mailto:tsticht at znet.com]
	Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 4:29 PM
	To: Taylor, Jackie
	Subject: PD Self-Study Course
	
	Jackie: The following may be of interest to the NIFL Professional
	Development list members. Thanks, Tom Sticht
	
	
	February 23, 2007
	
	Adult Education and Literacy in the United States:
	A Syllabus and Resources for an Online Course of Self-Study
	
	Tom Sticht
	International Consultant in Adult Education
	
	Each year many people start work in adult education and literacy
	development without much background in the field. Others who have worked
	in the field for a while may wish to deepen their knowledge of the
	field. To give people a chance to learn more about the field and its
	history, policies, practices and issues that it deals with I have
	developed this syllabus for self-study. It provides guidance to 12
	reports of mine which are available for free downloading online. Reading
	one report a week will provide a one semester, 12 week course of
	self-study. Except for number 1.1, these resources are located online at
	www.nald.ca at the Library pages for the site. To find any of these
	resources search the NALD Library pages using Sticht for my last name,
	or google my name and the title of the report.
	
	
	Syllabus and Resources
	
	Part 1: History of and Perspective on the Adult Education and Literacy
	System (AELS) of the United States
	
	1.1. The Rise of the Adult Education and Literacy System in the United
	States: 1600-2000. [ A 400 year history of activities leading to the
	Adult Education Act of 1966 and the emergence of the present day AELS
	with organizations and individuals involved in this rise. Online at
	www.ncsall.net/?id=576].
	
	1.2. Beyond 2000: Future Directions for Adult Education. [Looks at
	social, demographic, science, economic and technology trends with
	implications for the AELS; examines government and legislative trends
	with implications for the future of the AELS.]
	
	1.3. The Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the United
	States:
	Moving From the Margins to the Mainstream of Education. [Includes the
	growing value of the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) in the
	new millennium; value of AELS for improving adults' and children's
	health, learning and schooling; need for mainstreaming the AELS in U.S.
	education; strengthening the AELS.]
	
	Part 2. Testing, Assessment, and Accountability in the AELS.
	
	2.1. Adult Literacy in the United States: A Compendium of Quantitative
	Data With Interpretive Comments. [Presents a developmental theory of
	literacy and history of and items from standardized tests in the U.S.
	including military tests from World War I to 1990s and all mass literacy
	tests for adults from 1930s to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS)
	of 1993, which is similar to the NAAL of 2003. Presents data on
	relationships of parents education to the literacy of their children;
	relationships of adult literacy to occupations; and samples of pre- and
	post-test gains for over 30 programs, including longitudinal growth
	curves for some programs.]
	
	2.2. Accountability in Adult Literacy Education: Focus on Workplace
	Literacy Resources for Program Design, Assessment, Testing, &
	Evaluation. [Provides knowledge resources for designing, delivering and
	evaluating workplace literacy programs; discusses testing and
	accountability in adult literacy programs in the Workforce Education Act
	of 1998 still in effect as of 2007; determining how many adults are
	lacking in workforce literacy: the national and international adult
	literacy surveys.]
	
	Part 3. Curriculum Theory With Case Studies Illustrating Applications to
	Adult Education and Literacy Programs.
	
	3.1. Functional Context Education: Making learning relevant (1997
	edition).
	[Eight chapters including The Power of Adult Literacy Education; Some
	Challenges of Diversity for Adult Literacy Education. Views On
	Contemporary Cognitive Science; Introduction to Functional Context
	Education; Functional Context Education and Literacy Instruction; and
	four case studies in applying Functional Context Education to the design
	of programs that integrate (or embed, contextualize) basic skills and
	vocational or parenting education. (workplace literacy, family
	literacy).]
	
	3.2. Functional Context Education: Making Learning Relevant in the 21st
	Century (2005 edition). [Functional Context Education (FCE) materials
	available online in several nations; the Adult Literacy and Life skills
	(ALL) survey, National Adult Assessment of Literacy (NAAL) survey; FCE
	in historical perspective, (1860-Present) including Paulo Freire and
	Learner Centered, Participatory Literacy Education. Methodologies used
	in adult literacy research for determining what is relevant to youth and
	adult learners; five case studies illustrating the application of FCE in
	parenting, vocational training, and health literacy.]
	
	Part 4. Listening and Reading Theory and Practice With Adult Learners
	
	4.1. Auding and Reading: A Developmental Model. [This is the first book
	applying modern cognitive science to oracy (listening to and speaking
	language) and its transfer to literacy development with children and
	adults. It presents an early version of Gough's "simple model of
	reading"
	stating that Reading=Decoding+Comprehension (measured by listening). It
	provides an extensive review of research on language development,
	relationships of listening to reading, and the evaluation of four
	hypotheses derived from the simple model presented in the book.
	
	4.2. Teaching Reading With Adults. [This paper discusses literacy as the
	mastery of graphics technology. It shows how the basic elements of the
	graphic medium - its relative permanence, its ability to be arrayed in
	space, and its use of the properties of light - work together to permit
	literates to generate (write) and access (read) massive collections of
	knowledge; to analyze and synthesize discrete information into coherent
	bodies of knowledge, and to perform complex procedures with accuracy and
	efficiency.
	
	4.3. Seven Pioneering Adult Literacy Educators in the History of
	Teaching Reading With Adults in the United States. [Throughout the 20th
	century both Synthetic and Analytic methods of teaching reading were
	favored by different adult literacy educators. Favoring the Synthetic or
	"code"
	methods are Harriet A. Jacobs, J. Duncan Spaeth and Frank Laubach.
	Favoring the Analytic or "meaning making " methods are Cora Wilson
	Stewart, Paul Witty, Francis P. Robinson, and Septima Poinsette Clark.
	This paper discusses teaching innovations introduced by each of these
	pioneers in adult literacy education.]
	
	5. Policy Papers
	
	5.1. Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy: Investing in the
	Education of Adults to Improve the Educability of Children. [This paper
	argues for education policy that recognizes that literacy is transferred
	across generations from parents to their children. Therefore, we need to
	have a much larger investment in the education of youth and adults who
	are parents or who will be parents. Adult literacy education affects
	multiple life cycles. An extensive review is presented of research on
	early childhood education, relationships of parent's education to
	children's literacy, parenting and preschool effectiveness, and other
	issues.]
	
	5.2 Reforming Adult Literacy Education: Transforming Local Programs Into
	National Systems In Canada, the United Kingdom & the United States.
	[Activities are underway in these three nations for transforming adult
	literacy education from a variety of disparate programs into organized
	systems of education for adults. Activities include:1. Scale of Need:
	determining how many adults are in need of adult basic skills education.
	2.
	Access to Provision: determining how many adults are aware of, have
	access to and enroll in adult literacy education provision. 3. Nature of
	Provision: determining the nature of the delivery system of adult
	literacy provision. 4. Quality of Provision: determining the need for
	improved quality. 5. Accountability of Provision: improving methods for
	determining student learning and other outcomes.]
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
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