Adminstrators

Agency: Adult and Community Educators of Florida, Inc.

Project Director:

Goal: To identify realistic outcomes for performance based adult education and provide regional training and professional development activities for adult educators and community members in areas with high rates of illiteracy.

Background: Decision makers have tied education, especially adult and postsecondary education, to improving the literacy and academic skills of students so that they can enter the workforce; compete successfully for high paying jobs and get off public assistance. Adult educators should play a major role in Florida's economic growth and stability. For this to happen, adult educators must re-focus learning activities so adult learners can truly compete in this global economy and serve a larger percentage of the targeted population.

The success of this program depends on adult educators: involvement with other agencies, commitment to serving more adults, restructuring learning activities, and implementing outcome based education.

With outcome based education, adult educators have an opportunity to demonstrate how important their programs are to the well being of the state's economy. Adult educators can provide learning activities so that adult learners can demonstrate performance that meets expectations!

Agency: The School Board of Brevard County

Project Director:

Goal: The goal of this project is to continue to enhance the Competency-Based Adult Education (CBABE) curriculum through the AUTOSERVE System, and meet the statewide need for continued development and dissemination of any revised or new projects.

Background: Brevard County has been the leader in competency-based curriculum development and training since 1985. The goal of this program is to meet the statewide need for continued development and dissemination of any revised or new products. The continuance of CBAE updating, revision, enhancement and dissemination projects is an ongoing local and statewide need based in current use of this curriculum and the new Self-Server System.

From September, 1993 through April, 1994, ETC-Educational Training Center has provided training through the Train the Trainer Program and special technical assistance to over 220 professionals. ETC has heightened the awareness of the CBAE/CBABE curriculum to the point that there is now a waiting list to obtain this curriculum. 

Agency: Florida Atlantic University

Project Director:

Goal: The five goals of the program are to (1) design a reliable, valid Diagnostic and Prescriptive Instrument of Quality Indicators (DPI) to improve current adult education programs and curricula for educationally disadvantaged adults, (2) establish statewide electronic bibliographic database of 353 and exemplary projects, (3) establish regional electronic group conferencing networks on FIRN and FAUN, (4) establish regional training-the-trainer programs via FLORIDA FOCUS, and (5) implement E-mail-iteracy, a model pilot program designed to improve literacy of adults who are functioning at/or below the fifth grade level and/or adults with limited English proficiency.

Background: Many adult educators and administrators currently have no way of knowing how to utilize the Indicators of Program Quality to maximize the success of their programs. A reliable, easy to use, easy to understand and easy to apply instrument needs to be designed and validated. There is, then, a need for improving the computer and information technology skills of both adult educators and adults wanting to increase their literacy skills.

Many literacy programs are not demographically located in neighborhoods to match or to meet the needs of adult learners (Andler, 1994). Many teachers and literacy programs are therefore isolated from both the clients they intend to serve and the training information and communication they need to successfully complete their objectives.

Phase 2, 3, and 4 are directed at the needs of the adult and community educators/administrators and literacy providers.

The target population for the E-mail-iteracy project includes both educationally disadvantaged adults who are functioning below the fifth grade level and adults with limited English proficiency. Both groups are under-skilled in computer and information technologies which have been shown to a) enhance literacy, b) facilitate communication, and c) increase marketable skills.

Agency: Hillsborough County School Board

Project Director:

Goal: To develop increased efficiency in the evaluation, use, and production of written material and video tapes relating to competency-based instruction.

Background: The wide diversity of population and increased growth in Hillsborough County and Florida in general has resulted in a proportional growth and the need for adult education. Since adult education in Hillsborough County is provided mainly by part time instructors in a diversity of locations, it is essential that a nucleus of the staff be trained in the construction of materials and in the implementation of a competency-based program. 

Agency: Leon County School District

Project Director:

Goal: To improve adult basic education programs for those needing basic reading skills using a pilot project that will evaluate and revise the "Curriculum for Beginning Adult Readers - 0 to 3.0 Grade Level" and provide training and technical assistance on a local, regional and state level for teachers and administrators.

Background: Florida ranks as one of the fastest growing states in population growth. A corollary to this population growth is an increase in adults who are illiterate. Recent surveys on adult literacy in a number of counties in Florida's "Panhandle" reflect some very disconcerting facts. For example, this data indicates these "cluster" counties each have an illiteracy rate from 40% to 47%, and approximately 93% of this population is currently NOT being served by adult literacy programs.

A major criticism of adult education programs is the 50-70 percent drop out rate of students during the first few weeks of program participation. Lessons based on a curriculum that is perceived by the adult learners as appropriate for adults and as important and useful are essential to make adult education classrooms more relevant for adult learners. Teachers need on-going training and instructional assistance to provide quality lessons and activities for the low level adult reader

Along with the increase in the population needing the services of adult education programs has come an increase in awareness of the quality and accountability of educational programming. Quality and accountability are needed to ensure continued participation and funding.

Agency: Leon County School District

Project Director:

Goal: To provide assistance for the installation and use of the Florida Student Performance Standards automated system created during the 1992-93 school year through a previous 353 grant. This project will assist adult education program personnel throughout the state in analyzing student progress for school improvement and reporting for accountability.

Background: With the advent of Florida's new plan for school improvement and accountability, increasing emphasis will be placed on measurable student outcomes. Not only will this require individual schools to access baseline data for their students population, it will require schools to analyze such data from year to year in order to develop plans for school improvement. In adult education, easily retrievable data on student standardized testing are not necessarily the best measure of student performance or student gains, particularly with populations for whom the ability to test are non-readers, non-English speaking adults and those adults with handicaps so severe as to impede their ability to test or function in a testing environment. Additionally, there is a need to analyze and report what students have learned in formats other than achievement testing.

Agency: Santa Rosa County School Board

Project Director:

Goal: To continue the development of a collaborative model for staff training based upon the interrelationship between the School Improvement Process, the newly identified quality indicators of adult education and the State of Florida Plan for Adult Education.

Background: Initially, the Western Panhandle Coalition envisioned a project that would produce a model for staff training based on the interrelationships between the school improvement processes, the Indicators of Adult Education Program Quality, and the Florida Plan for Adult Education, could be completed, operative, and self-sustaining within the allotted grant period. Work on the project was begun immediately after notification of grant approval in order to define the parameters of the project and identify the activities that would need to be accomplished in support of training model preparation. As time progressed it became increasingly clear to all concerned that the project was assuming unexpected proportions and complexities, since the project is a bold experiment to illustrate strategies to meet all 37 descriptors listed under the nine quality indicators and identify correlation's to other notable programs that relate to Florida's adult education plan and Blueprint 2000.

Agency: University of South Florida

Project Director:

Goal: To develop specialized training materials, modules, and in service training to assist adult education teachers and administrators in fifteen counties in west central Florida in becoming more effective through developing cross-cultural awareness and understanding.

Background: As the number of immigrants and refugees who enter Florida continues to grow, an ever-increasing need exists for appropriate educational services which will enable them to become productive members of their communities. Many of these immigrants enroll in adult ESOL classes in which the teachers have little or no formal training in cross-cultural communication and understanding. Moreover, numerous limited English proficient (LEP) students enroll in adult basic education (ABE), general educational development (GED) or adult high school (AHS) classes either upon completing an ESOL program or after having lived in the United States long enough to become able to use English for basic communication, but who need to further develop their academic and functional skills. Teachers for these programs often have little training on the special needs of a multicultural classroom. Adult Education supervisors were surveyed to establish the need for a multicultural training workshop for their ABE, GED, ESOL, adult high school, and adult disabilities teachers, counselors and administrators. The survey results strongly substantiates the need for regional multicultural training workshops developed specifically for teachers of adult students. 

Agency: Florida A & M University

Project Director:

Project Title: DOE Fellows Program

Goal: The goal of the accelerated master's program is to produce highly informed, socially conscious professionals with rich field experiences that will prepare them to address the challenges predicted for the 1990s.

Background: Recognition of "pockets of illiteracy" led to the DOE-sponsored formation of Target Service Improvement Clusters (TSIC) to address the literacy needs and opportunities found in Florida's communities. FAMU is host to the administrative center of TSIC One. A link connects the practice/methodological needs of graduate students in Adult Education Administration with support of the Literacy Action Pioneers Project. It is anticipated that 25% of graduate students will participate in assisting in the design and assessment of individualized learning strategies, compile date, and establish student portfolios. Demographics of resource personnel addressing the challenges of illiteracy should parallel multi-ethnic and socio-economic realities. The DOE Fellows Program actively recruits minority and rural adult leaders who will impact on their immediate communities. The program in Adult Education Administration appeals to both traditional and non-traditional graduate students who will lead the state in addressing problems of illiteracy. This is the third and final year of the three-year project. 

Agency: Leon County School District

Project Director:

Project Title: Developing the New Curriculum for Adults with Disabilities and the Activities Manual

Goal: The goal of this project is to provide Adults with Disabilities Programs statewide with a curriculum that will be the foundation for meeting the many and varied educational needs of the students, and to provide training and technical assistance on a local, regional, and state level for teachers and administrators.

Background: Historically, providing educational services for adults with disabilities was not a priority in most school districts. With the passage of the Zollie Maynard Education for the Handicapped Adults Act, a major step was taken to place emphasis on the educational opportunities for adults with disabilities. The law establishes educational programs in several categories and encourages adults with disabilities to improve/increase daily living and academic skills and economic independence.

Since 1982, Leon County Schools has been serving growing number of these adults, as have other districts in the state. Educational services are varied and specialized depending on the disabilities of the students in a particular class. Leon County developed and is using "Curriculum for Students with Special Needs" and the accompanying "Activities for Students with Special Needs" manual. These must now be revised and updated in order to meet the needs of the students and the goals set forth on a national, state, and local level.