Hello, Ms. Cook,

I am very sorry to hear about your troubles and your story of work in
adult education (no health insurance, no job security). As we all know,
the "norm" of work without benefits and job security is not a good one
for the many highly qualified and dedicated people who work in adult
education. Cristine Smith and Marilyn Gillespie give an excellent status
report on the working environment for practitioners in adult education
in their article

Smith, C. & Gillespie, M. (2007). Research on professional development
and teacher change: Implications for adult basic education. Review of
Adult Learning and Literacy, 7. Available:
http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/ann_rev/smith-gillespie-07.pdf


In this working environment, the idea of certification seems like an
additional burden to many, as you so aptly state. However,
professionalizing our field to those who are not part of it is one way
of trying to get better working conditions. Those who fund adult
education programs, both government and private foundations, may be more
likely to increase funding if we can better explain what we do and the
dedication we have for our work. Professionalization efforts, such as
program, content and teacher qualification standards, and certification
and credentialling, are one way of helping those outside adult education
see us for the professionals we are. If they can better understand who
we are and what we do, then possibly more funding will be dedicated to
adult education and programs will be able to offer full-time, stable
employment with benefits. 

The Center for Adult English Language Acquisition's latest brief
discusses the reasons for professionalization efforts such as
standardization and credentialization for teachers of adult English
language learners. This might be of interest to you and others and can
be found at

http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/tchrcred.html

Again, I am sorry for your situation and for many who work in adult
education without job security and benefits. I'm glad that you've been
able to get health insurance and MANY congratulations on surviving
cancer!

Kirsten

Kirsten Schaetzel, Ph.D.
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition
Center for Applied Linguistics
4646 40th St. NW
Washington, DC 20016
Telephone:  202-355-1523
Fax:  202-362-3740 or 202-373-7204


-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Sandra
Cook
Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2008 11:38 AM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2079] Re: ProfessionalDevelopment



Hi.  This is an old email as I don't get to this mailbox very often.  To
address the point of certification in adult ed, in Texas we don't need a
certificate to teach.  I'm Texas certified in 3 areas (Music, Special
Ed, ELA), but that is moot.  Why would one want to get certfied in Adult
Ed when most regions/adult ed departments never allow teachers to work
the 18.75 hours required to get benefits (health insurance or
retirement)?  

Statistics tell us that the majority of the uninsured folks in the U.S.
are uneducated.  I'd like to know if anyone has ever done a study on the
number of higly educated people in the education field are uninsured.
This would include adult ed, substitutes, college adjunct faculty,
temporary teachers (I'm one) in homebound departments, and a multiple of
"consultants".  

I have a masters degree.  I would venture to say there are many of us
who are highly qualified and have post graduate degrees who go without
benefits.  So what's the point in attaining further certification?  I
posed this question to the college department head who developed the
adult certification program and she concurred.  Quite frankly, no one
has addressed this.  

I am a breast cancer survivor ('03), had no health insurance, taught 18
hours weekly, and lived from year to year in fear of recurrence.
Fortunately, I'm now a Medicare beneficiary, and take comfort in the
fact that while my employer didn't care, the federal government did.
How many of us are out there?  

Sandra Cook,
San Antonio, TX 



________________________________

From: tjdclaire at cox.net
To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov
Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 13:44:19 -0700
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1828] Re: ProfessionalDevelopment







I agree.  In fact, in Arizona, one only needs a bachelor's degree and a
program that is willing to hire you in order to get certification.  The
process goes much faster if one has certification to teach any other
subject or grade level...but that is not a requirement.

As I recall, as of 12 years ago, in New York there was no specific
certification for adult ed.  A certificate in any other field
automatically qualified one to teach adult ed.  I haven't heard of any
changes, but then I've been a few thousand miles away most of that 12
years.



________________________________

From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
Tyskiewicz, Andy
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 12:23 PM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1827] Re: ProfessionalDevelopment





I am not aware of a national certificate. In fact, not all states
require a certificate of any kind.





-----Original Message-----
From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jody
Angelone
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 8:07 AM
To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1825] Re: ProfessionalDevelopment






I am sending this request on behalf of this young lady who contacted me
locally, but is not a part of this list serve.  If anyone has any
information that would be helpful, please respond to the list and I will
forward the information to her or feel free to contact her at her email
address:







 To Whom It May Concern,


Having been a volunteer at the Main Library where I was first introduced
to literacy I am greatly interested in seeing how to get a national
certificate as an Adult Literacy Educator (instructor.)  Could you
please direct me to local colleges (Ohio or distance education options)
where I could obtain this from as I would like this for a career.
(By-the-way, I do have a BA.)  Thanks so much.  Please feel free to
contact me: allison2200 at lycos.com


Sincerely,


Allison Gilman













Jody L. Angelone
NW ABLE Resource Center
Owens Community College
(w) 567-661-7355
(c) 419-204-5013
(f) 567-661-7662
jody_angelone3 at owens.edu


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