This comes from Aaron Kohring, regarding a guest discussion that may be of great interest to those who care about program quality improvement. Enjoy!
 
Peggy McGuire, M.A., 
Senior Research Associate, National Consultant, and
NIFL-Program Leadership and Improvement List Moderator
Center for Literacy Studies
The University of Tennessee
111 5th Street, PO Box 16
Mount Gretna, PA  17064
717-964-1341 (landline/fax)
215-888-6507 (cell)
mmcguire at utk.edu
 

________________________________

Greetings colleagues,

 

Next week, Monday, September 25 through Friday, September 29, the Content Standards Discussion List will be hosting a discussion on the U.S. Department of Education's efforts to support state-level adoption and institutionalization of content standards for adult learning.  Our guest will be Ronna Spacone from the Department's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL).

 

Please read the introductory information below, which includes a link to the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse Website, to help prepare you for the discussion.  

 

You may begin posting your questions to Ronna this week.  I will collect the questions together and re-post when the discussion starts next week.

 

To participate in the discussion, sign up for the list at:

http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards <http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards> 

 

Aaron

 

Aaron Kohring

Moderator, National Institute for Literacy's Content  

Discussion List (http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/Contentstandards)

 

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

 

For the past several years, the U.S. Department of Education, OVAE, has used National Leadership Activity funds to provide technical assistance and support to states already committed to standards-based education reform.  

 

OVAE's efforts to promote the implementation of state-level content standards began with the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse Project, operated by the American Institutes of Research (AIR), 2003-2005.  The project included:

 

1.	Technical assistance and networking for state collaborative working groups or consortia in 14 states,

 

2.	The development and publication of "A Process Guide for Establishing State Adult Education Content Standards" and

 

3.	The development of the Adult Education Content Standards Warehouse (AECSW) Website.  The AECSW site provides universal access to existing state standards as well as nationally developed content standards in the areas of reading, mathematics, and English language acquisition.  Since it was launched in May 2005, eleven states and CASAS and Equipped for the Future have contributed their standards for posting.  The site also serves to disseminate the "Process Guide for Establishing State Adult Education Content Standards" as well as the professional development materials that were developed for the State Standards Consortia project.  In preparation for our listserv discussion next week, I invite you to please visit the AECSW Website located at: (http://www.adultedcontentstandards.org <http://www.adultedcontentstandards.org/> ), which AIR continues to operate with OVAE. 

 

In September 2005, with the conclusion of the State Standards Consortia activities, OVAE funded a new activity to identify how best to continue to support states committed to the implementation of standards.  A six-month planning project was then conducted by MPR Associates, Inc., along with partner organizations Design Perspectives and World Education.  Planning activities included a literature review of noteworthy practices, an evaluation of the electronic warehouse, and an assessment of the needs of states to support standards-based education.  Twenty-four states chose to participate in the project.  Based on the results, OVAE has moved ahead and made plans for a new project scheduled to begin next month.

 

As in the past, the new activities will provide opportunities for interested states to work together and learn about standards-based education.  The project is expected to focus especially on the implementation of standards, including: how to translate standards into classroom instruction and curriculum and how to assess the implementation of standards to guide instructional improvement and program practice. 

 

I invite you to learn more about the Department of Education's efforts to promote state-level adoption of content standards and to ask questions about these activities during the listserv discussion.  Please refer to the various sections of the AECSW Website (http://www.adultedcontentstandards.org <http://www.adultedcontentstandards.org/> ) including the Guide, Warehouse, and Field Resources as well as the OVAE DAEL Website located at: (http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/index.html). 

 

I look forward to an interesting, engaging discussion and appreciate the opportunity to take part.  Thanks.

 

Ronna Spacone

Education Program Specialist

Office of Vocational and Adult Education

U.S. Department of Education

Ronna.spacone at ed.gov 

 

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