Teacher Certification and Credentialing in Adult Education - Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List

Description

Many adult education teachers have been trained and certified in the K-12 system, but have little or no training in teaching adults. Others have experience helping adults, but are not familiar with effective instructional strategies that promote learning. Many do not consider either of these choices to be adequate preparation for adult educators. Join our guests on the Professional Development List June 20-24, 2011, to explore the following questions and more in a discussion of Teacher Certification and Credentialing in Adult Education:

• What should the qualifications be to teach in adult education programs?
• What knowledge and skills do you think are needed to teach adults?
• How does this differ based on different aspects of the field, such as ABE, ASE, ELL, or by different content areas like numeracy?
• How important is certification and credentialing to you and what would it do for the field? For example, will certification result in greater professionalization of the field?
• Should we develop systems of certification and credentialing and, if so, what models exist for certifying or credentialing both pre-service and in-service teachers to work with adults?

Guests

• Gretchen Bitterlin, ESL Program Chair, San Diego Continuing Education Program, San Diego Community College District
• Miriam Burt, Manager, Adult ESL Projects, Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL)
• Forrest Chisman, Vice President, Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAAL)
• Lynda Ginsburg, Senior Researcher, Center for Math, Science and Computer Education, Rutgers University
• Bob Hughes, Associate Professor of Adult Education, Seattle University
• Cristine Smith, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Facilitator: Jackie Taylor, Professional Development List Moderator, Literacy Information and Communication System

Resources

• CLOSING THE GAP: The Challenge of Certification & Credentialing in Adult Education,
  
  by Forrest P. Chisman
• Certifying Adult Education Staff and Faculty
  
  by Associate Professor Cristine Smith of the University of Massachusetts with Ricardo Gomez.
• COABE 2011 Conference Workshop on What New Instructors Need: Tell Us!
  Audio recording
  
  Transcript
• Adult ESL teacher credentialing and certification. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics
  
  by Jodi Crandall, Genesis Ingersoll, and Jacqueline Lopez
• Professionalization and Certification for Teachers in Adult Basic Education
  
  
  John P. Sabatini, Lynda Ginsburg, and Mary Russell
  
  Chapter Summary
  
  Full Chapter
• TESOL Standards for Adult Education ESL Programs
• Standards for ESL/EFL Teachers of Adults
• Position Statement on Professionalization and Credentialing for Adult ESOL Educators (April 2008; PDF)

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