Resources

The Office of Citizenship in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) created this guide to help adult citizenship education program administrators and teachers in developing a citizenship curriculum and thematic lessons, choosing textbooks and supplemental materials, and creating effective learning activities. This guide is organized around three naturalization content areas with correlated progress standards. The guide emphasizes the importance of foundation skills necessary for students to learn citizenship-specific content. Using the foundation skills and content standards outlined in this guide, teachers can link the skills and knowledge their students need for the naturalization interview and test with classroom instruction.

This guide offers a way to manage higher-level math standards to address time constraints and other potential impediments to full implementation. In building this resource, StandardsWork drew on the principles of Understanding by Design (or UbD) a three-stage backwards design process. First, the guide’s developers defined the Big Ideas for each of the Middle Intermediate, High Intermediate, and Adult Secondary levels of learning. Next, they subdivided the Big Ideas into Priority Topics. Then they translated each Priority Topic into a set of specific Instructional Objectives. The information revealed through the analysis process proposes the critical content, instructional priorities, and time-on-task that can be covered effectively and efficiently in a systematic fashion. The components connect one to the other but with the necessary flexibility built in so that this resource can be used with any curriculum.

Observing classroom instruction delivered by experienced teachers is a good way for teachers and tutors to acquire classroom management techniques and learn new activities. Because finding time to do in-person classroom observations can be difficult, the Minnesota Literacy Council developed the Classroom Activities for Adult ESL Learners video series. The 17 videos feature professional teachers leading adult ESL classes through common classroom activities. Teachers and tutors can use the videos to develop their teaching practices and become more comfortable introducing new activities to students. Each activity includes:

• a PDF version of the lesson plan;
• a full version of the video ranging in length from 8 to 35 minutes that shows the entire activity from beginning to end; and
• a shorter 3- to 16-minute version that gives an overview of the activity and highlights the instructions and teacher-led transitions.

The activities featured in these videos were selected from the Minnesota Literacy Council’s Pre-Beginning ESL Curriculum and Beginning ESL Curriculum. The site also features a Classroom Video Observation Form to analyze and reflect on what users see in the videos.

The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) is excited to release the Career Pathways Toolkit: An Enhanced Guide and Workbook for System Development. The new Toolkit will be especially helpful for State offices and partners required to develop a Unified Plan as well as staff members supporting State Workforce Development Boards. DOLETA revised the Career Pathways Toolkit to align with the new vision, definition, and requirements of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It also reflects major advancements and emerging promising practices in the field over the past five years. The enhanced Toolkit features the Six Key Elements of Career Pathways. Each element now includes embedded – and writeable – worksheets to help State and local teams with implementation. Users can type directly into the worksheet fields and save and print as they go along.

Crucial to the nation’s economic growth and individuals’ social and personal well-being is the availability of education and training that enables adults to learn new skills, obtain higher paying jobs, and build careers. The primary federal legislation supporting education, training services, and workforce development for adults – the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014– is a catalyst for delivering the types of education, training, and employment services that facilitate adults’ economic and career success. WIOA emphasizes the building and alignment of workforce investment, education, and economic development systems that deliver comprehensive employment, education, and supportive services. These services are expected to enable individuals, particularly those with barriers to employment, to obtain the skills and credentials needed to secure jobs with family-sustaining wages, as well as to provide employers with the skilled workforce needed to succeed in a global economy. WIOA aims to strengthen the U.S. workforce development system by aligning employment, training, and education programs and improving their quality through innovative approaches that address the needs of adults and youth. Career pathways, consistently referenced in WIOA Titles I and II, is an approach that includes innovative policies and practices to facilitate individuals’ education and employment success. The use of a career pathways approach calls for aligned workforce investment, education, and economic development systems at the state and local levels. To obtain this alignment, state and local partners must work together to organize and support the high-quality, coordinated workforce, education, and training services that underlie a career pathways approach. Thus, to assess services that undergird a career pathways approach, state staff must examine the implementation of career pathways; determine professional development services involved; and leverage data to inform new strategic thinking.

This guide for adult education facilitators provides information and strategies for supporting adult learners living with mental health conditions or disorders. Chapters 1 - 5 contain an overview of concepts and general suggestions for supporting learners living with mental health issues. To get the most from this guide, it is suggested that users read chapters 1 - 5 first. Chapters 6 - 16 present information on specific conditions and disorders, and strategies for supporting learners living with these specific issues. Because some learning needs will be similar across multiple disorders, some information and strategies will be repeated in more than one chapter. These chapters, and the strategies they contain, are listed separately in the Table of Contents so that facilitators can look up a specific issue and use only the relevant materials. Chapters 17 – 18 include resources and handouts for learners. Instructors will find the handout topics listed in the Table of Contents. Links to the handouts that correspond with learning strategies are also included in the learning strategy charts, where applicable.

Using the PIAAC Literacy Framework to Guide Instruction is a report based on PIAAC’s data released in October 2013. Thisintroductory guide describes how adult literacy practitioners (teachers, lead instructors, professional developers, and program administrators) might support adult learners by incorporating relevant tools from PIAAC’s literacy framework to frame reading instruction. The Guide provides suggested instructional practices in relation to how instructors can support adult developing readers.