Introduction to abe content standards All introduce

Student goals and skills Work with a partner to: Choose a student profile What skills would this student need to reach his/her goals and transition to his/her next steps? (Brenda) What does this person need to learn? 5 minutes to brainstorm skills

Sort skills into 3 categories: (Brenda) Give pairs 5 minutes to sort/label their skills Highlighters on tables Then, ask them to brainstorm additional skills for any category(ies) that don’t have many skills listed

Discussion: Student Profiles Share your brainstormed lists of potential student skill needs with another pair (Brenda) 5 minutes total (2 minutes per group). Share with one other pair/small group.

Content standards… describe what students should know and be able to do upon successful completion of an instructional program. provide the foundation for designing curricula, instruction, and assessment. (Brad) How do we help students reach their goals? Content standards are a first step in getting there. Help us to define the end goal.

Content standards are NOT a curriculum a set of lesson plans meant to be taught from cover to cover a full spectrum of support and interventions for students Brad

Discussion: Content standards Have you used content standards in your practice? How have standards helped you and your students? (Brenda) Whole group – 3 min.

Content standards in K-12 vs ABE Curricula aligned to standards readily available District or school selects curriculum to be used Many existing instructional resources are not yet aligned Teachers may be responsible for selecting and/or developing curriculum (Brad) Share the differences between the way the standards have been embedded into K12 curricula and texts, whereas they are new in ABE and teachers must do much of the work to align instruction to standards; ABE textbook & software publishers are now working to align content to standards, but many existing resources are not aligned.

MN ABE Content Standards (Brad) Now that we’ve talked about the purpose of content standards in general, what are the Minnesota ABE content standards?

MN ABE Content Standards Skills Standards Basic (Literacy & Math) CCRS Transitions (Professional & Soft) TIF Digital Literacy (Technology) Northstar (Brenda) Adult learners need basic academic, professional and digital literacy skills in order to succeed and thrive in post secondary education, the workplace and their communities.

Where did the standards come from? College & Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education (CCRS) Released in 2013 by OCTAE Based on Common Core State Standards (CCSS) ACES Transitions Integration Framework (TIF) Developed 2011-2013 by team of MN ABE practitioners and professional developers Northstar Digital Literacy Standards Developed in 2010 by St. Paul Community Literacy Consortium and St. Paul Public Library Brad

True or false? Do we really have to use standards in instruction? Brenda

Federal & state requirements WIOA – federal legislation for ABE requires standards aligned to K12 standards MN Department of Education – chooses statewide standards (CCRS, TIF, Northstar) ABE programs need to document how they are implementing standards through periodic applications for funding (Brad) YES! Standards required by WIOA, our new federal legislation for ABE, and MN ABE Office Consortia and programs need to document how they are implementing standards through periodic applications for funding. (The state does not require teachers to archive lesson plans for documentation purposes.) NOTE: The state does not require teachers to archive lesson plans for documentation purposes.

What about assessment? Currently, standardized assessments (CASAS/TABE) do not align with CCRS, but… Assessments are undergoing revision and review at the federal level New assessments aligned with CCRS are coming! (at the speed of government) Brad

How can standards help students, teachers, and programs? Provide a guide to instruction that is based on evidence and research Help to close the gap between ABE, post-secondary and the workplace Provide a common language for educators that can help to promote alignment among and between levels in a program as well as between programs Assure that high-mobility students and students who “stop out” have access to a logical, predictable set of skills all teachers/programs are working toward Professionalize the field of ABE (Brenda) How can content standards help our students, you as teachers, and our ABE programs and system? (Brenda, also feel free to share any examples from you, your class, and your program, if you like!)