PD List Colleagues:

Below is a copy of the upcoming PD Research discussion announcement you
may wish to share with teachers in your area. I've also included a
_second_ discussion announcement also coming up next week but on the
Assessment List.

 

Please see below. Part I is an overview; Part II provides discussion
details.

 

~ Jackie Taylor, Adult Literacy Professional Development List Moderator,
jataylor at utk.edu 

 

 

Part I



1) Title:   Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change:
Implications for Adult Basic Education http://tinyurl.com/yvuvzr

Date:   July 9-13, 2007

Resource for Discussion:
http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/ann_rev/smith-gillespie-07.pdf

Guests: Marilyn Gillespie and Cristine Smith http://tinyurl.com/2bpyap

To participate, subscribe:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment

To submit questions for discussion, email: jataylor at utk.edu 

 

 

2) Title: Assessment in Distance Learning

Date: July 9-13, 2007

Guests: Jennifer Rafferty and Shannon Young

To participate, subscribe:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment  

To submit questions, email: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com 

 

 

Part II

 

1) Title:   Research on Professional Development and Teacher Change:
Implications for Adult Basic Education http://tinyurl.com/yvuvzr

Date:   July 9-13, 2007

Resource for Discussion:
http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/ann_rev/smith-gillespie-07.pdf

To participate, subscribe:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Professionaldevelopment

To submit questions for discussion, email: jataylor at utk.edu 

 

Guests: http://tinyurl.com/2bpyap 

Marilyn Gillespie, Ed.D., Senior Educational Researcher, Center for
Education Policy, SRI International

Marilyn Gillespie conducts research and evaluation in adult literacy and
K-12 education for federal and state organizations and foundations.

 

Cristine Smith, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, Center for International
Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Cristine Smith was the
director of NCSALL's five-year study on professional development for
adult literacy teachers.

 

Description: Historically, very little research has been conducted in
adult literacy professional development. Recently, the National Center
for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) has published a
chapter within the Review of Adult Learning and Literacy (v. 7) on
research in professional development and teacher change
<http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/ann_rev/smith-gillespie-07.pd
f> . This chapter (available free and online) draws from the NCSALL
Professional Development Study as well as research on professional
development from the K-12 field. Join the Adult Literacy Professional
Development Discussion List where the authors, Cristine Smith and
Marilyn Gillespie, will participate with subscribers in discussion on
teacher professional development issues like: 

*	What is known about what makes teacher professional development
effective 
*	How teachers change as a result of professional development 
*	Implications for policy, practice and research in professional
development 
*	How the Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers
(AALPD) can take action to: 

	a.	Develop a centralized location for professional
development research, and 
	b.	Advance research in adult literacy professional
development. 

************************************************

Preparation for PD Research Discussion

The following questions are just a few questions to inspire discussion.
You may have different questions. Feel free to post your questions to
the PD List or email them direct to jataylor at utk.edu . 

 

Please reflect on your answers to any of the following...

 

Overall:

1)     From your experience, what has been the most effective
professional development in which you have participated? What factors
made it most valuable for your professional growth and learning?

 

2)     What aspects of the chapter on professional development research
stood out to you most? Why?

 

3)     What are the similarities and notable differences between K-12
and adult literacy education professional development?

 

Lessons Learned

4)     Given the lessons learned from the NCSALL Professional
Development Study and PD research in general, are these understandings
being translated into the professional development our field is offering
teachers? For example:

a.      Is more teacher training involving both the program
administrator and teacher?

b.      Are you seeing more follow-up on-site?

c.      Is there less of a focus in the field on single-session
workshops and more on program-based, job-embedded, or hybrid models of
professional development?

 

State of Research

5)     What are the differences in K-12 and adult literacy professional
development research needs?

 

6)     What kinds of research in adult literacy professional development
are most needed?

 

Funding:

7)     How are states currently funding professional development
research? What are potential ways in which states may fund PD research,
such as collaborating with neighboring states to address common PD
research questions of concern?

 

Professional Development Models

8)     On-site professional development vs. the regional or state
workshop model: What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

 

Single-Session Professional Development - Exception vs. Norm

9)     The authors note that one implication for practice from
professional development research is that states should make
single-session workshops the exception rather than the norm. Do you
agree? Why or why not?

 

10)  What are other options for increasing professional development
designs that offer longer term, more job-embedded models of professional
development?

 

Teacher Working Conditions

11) Authors discuss what researchers call the "dilution effect" of
professional development: The actual impact of the professional
development is diluted by all of the other factors that support or
hinder teachers from making change.

 

a.      How do teachers' working conditions (such as paid prep time or
benefits) relate to their ability to make use of the professional
development they receive?

 

b.      Is improving teacher working conditions a concern that can only
be addressed at the local level? Why or why not?

 

c.      What work is being done to improve teacher working conditions in
programs and states? What has changed since the advent of the NCSALL
Professional Development Study, specifically pertaining to teacher
working conditions? Have we "taken the lesson home?" To heart?

 

The Role of the School Administrator in Teacher Professional Development

12)  How do program directors support and/or constrain teacher change?

 

Using Student Data to Improve Instruction

13) What work is being done in using student achievement data to improve
teaching practice?

 

Teacher Turnover

14)  Is teacher turnover higher in adult education than in K-12? What
are the factors that cause teachers to leave the field of adult
education? What are the implications of high teacher turnover for our
students, for our field?

 

Serve More Students or Serve Fewer, Better?

15) From your experience, share your perspective on the issue about the
extent to which research-based professional development should be more
heavily invested. For example, given that research indicates that
working conditions, such as access to benefits and paid preparation time
for ABE teachers, may actually influence the effectiveness of
professional development, should policy makers consider whether any
increase in funding be channeled into such expenditures, even if fewer
students are served as a result?

 

16) The annual average cost per adult education student in states is
$800.00. In many states, this cost is much lower. Should it cost more to
teach adult education students? Why or why not?

 

17) What other issues may arise in the quantity versus quality debate?

 

 

 

 

2) Title: Assessment in Distance Learning

Date: July 9-13, 2007

Guests: Jennifer Rafferty and Shannon Young

To participate, subscribe:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment  

To submit questions, email: marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com 

Discussion Announcement 

To subscribe to this discussion, please go to:
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Assessment

Dear Colleagues, 

I'm pleased to announce the following Guest Discussion, which will be
held during the week of July 9 (next week!!):

Topic: Assessment in Distance Learning 

Guest Participants: 

Jennifer Rafferty currently works as an independent education
consultant.  Formerly, she worked at the Adult Literacy Resource
Institute at SABES Boston where she held the role of Project Manager for
the Massachusetts ABE Distance Learning Project.  She has worked in the
field of ABE since 1998.

 

Shannon Young is the Program Manager for the Support Center at Project
IDEAL / AdultEd Online and is a Senior Research Area Specialist for the
Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology at The University of
Michigan's Institute for Social Research. She oversees the Center's work
on curriculum and assessment issues and leads the design team that
creates online tools used to collect student data and support teachers
in member states.  Shannon has conducted education research in k-12 and
ABE settings and been a tutor and writing instructor since 1991.

Recommended preparations for this discussion:

Please consider any of the following questions as catalysts for
discussion.  There is some redundancy with the questions below; however,
the questions are articulated slightly differently and so might provide
people with different entry points of thought.  Also, perhaps
subscribers will find it interesting to view Massachusetts as a sort of
case study given that the issues faced there appear to mirror the issues
faced elsewhere in Distance Learning. 

 

Measures of Progress-Informal and Ongoing

 

In the discussion on pre-assessments for online learning (see Resources
of Interest, below), participants talked about the ways in which they
use various pre-assessments, orientation activities, and technology
training to gauge readiness and prepare their students to become
distance learners who persist beyond the "try-out" phase.  

 

In distance learning, the initial orientation period may be one of the
few times teachers and students are face to face.   The types of
informal, ongoing assessments teachers routinely use in classrooms
(e.g., "reading" students to determine comprehension, redirecting or
expanding discussions, group activities, quizzes, etc.) frequently
aren't available in a distance setting.  So, once we have students in
the distance-learning door, how can we use progress measures and
informal assessments to help keep them engaged? What do those measures
entail?  What does and doesn't work and why?   What role might partner
agencies and/or interested "others" play in the assessment process and
in helping students stay connected and engaged?

 

As a distance teacher, how do you use the results of progress measures
to inform your teaching? 

 

Post-Testing and the NRS

 

In June, the NRS posted its official guidelines for counting distance
learners in the NRS tables.  One of the guidelines for counting distance
learners states that students be post-tested in a proctored setting
using a standardized assessment at intervals designated by the test
developer or by state policy.   Some states follow test developer
guidelines.  Others mandate students be post-tested after a certain
number of days.  

 

*	How do you get your distance learners to take standardized
post-tests?  
*	How do you prepare them in advance to understand the necessity
of post-testing?  
*	What sorts of partnerships have you formed with other service
providers (e.g., libraries, career link centers, etc.) to handle
post-testing distance learners?  What advice would you have for others
interested in forming these partnerships? 
*	What do you do when a student achieves his/her goal before the
pre-determined post-test interval?  For example, many students come into
distance programs with specific, short-term goals and study intently for
brief periods of time (e.g., 50 hours of study over a two-week period).
They meet their objectives and are ready to exit a program.  If they
have not been designated as a project-based learner, how do you handle
accounting for these students?  Do you post-test even if they haven't
met the pre-established time-based criteria?    

 

The following questions are based on discussions that have come up with
distance learning programs in Massachusetts:  

 

Questions related to standardized assessments, NRS, and state assessment
policies: 

 

1. What standardized testing instruments do you use with distance
learners in your state?  

 

2. Are your distance learning programs required to follow assessment
policies/guidelines that were created for classroom programs, or has
your state developed a separate set of distance learning assessment
policies? 

 

3. Do the standardized assessments align well with the dl curricula
being used in your state? 

 

4. How successful has your program been with pre and post assessment of
distance learners?  

 

5. What strategies have you implemented to encourage learners to return
for a post-test and which strategies have been the most successful? 

 

6. Has your state developed any remote testing guidelines that would
make it easier for learners to access required assessments without
having to return to the adult learning program? 

 

7. Does your state use a standardized assessment that is
online/web-based?  If so, has having a web-based assessment made it
easier for your program to pre and post-test learners?

 

Questions related to other forms of assessment for dl programs:

 

What other assessment instruments do you use to gauge whether your
learners are appropriate for distance learning delivery? Do you think
that these assessments give a good indication as to whether or not the
learner is prepared for self-directed learning? What skills needed for
dl are not so easily evaluated with inventories and assessments?  

 

Resources of interest:

 

Project IDEAL (Improving Distance Education for Adult Learners):
http://projectideal.org      

 

AdultEdOnline:  http://www.adultedonline.org  (Introduction to distance
teaching and free online self-assessment for classroom teachers
interested in becoming a distance teacher)

 

"Pre-Assessments for On-Line Learning"; Excerpt from Special Topics
Community Literacy discussion; go to:
http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.htm
l

The discussion begins with questions regarding early drop-out and
retention issues and asks whether "try-out periods" are integral to
on-line learning processes.  It then focuses on the inclusion of
pre-assessments, as well as pre- and on-going orientation sessions as
strategies for improving retention and success rates.  

 

 

 

 

Marie Cora

marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com <mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> 

NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator

http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment

Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection

http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/

 

 

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