Students & Families Adult Education Adult & Community Learning Services
Adult and Community Learning Services

Curriculum Update, April 2009

Useful Resources:

Making it Worth the Stay: Findings from the New England Adult Learner Persistence Project

The New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) has just published the findings of action research done by 18 New England adult education programs that investigated persistence strategies in their varied contexts over the course of a semester. Massachusetts was represented by colleagues from Clinton Adult Learning Center, Cambridge Community Learning Center, International Institute of Boston, Quincy Community Action Program, Quinsigamond Community College, and SCALE.

This report can be found at http://nelrc.org/persist/report09.pdf. In addition to describing the specific strategies and outcomes in each program, the researchers concluded that persistence can be improved by addressing key adult needs, such as the need to feel competent or the need for a sense of community. Findings regarding intake and orientation, instruction, counseling and peer support, and re-engagement are categorized for each by key findings, qualitative outcomes, challenges, and next steps. While the entire report is fascinating, pages 26-28 focus on the strategies used in instruction. Some of these include:

• Multi-sensory, interactive lessons
• Self-study packets of high interest readings with related activities
• Posted syllabus
• Daily reflection on learning
• Use of Moodle to engage students

A very informative chart on page 64 outlines effective persistence strategies and their outcomes, and how these outcomes address adult learners' needs for a sense of belonging, clarity of purpose, competence, relevance and stability. Briefly, (there is much more here), the following were found to be effective strategies:

• Showing [to students] interest, support, consideration, and caring
• Enhancing the [students'] ability to make informed decisions
• Providing learning options and opportunities to be included in decision-making
• Engaging students in dialogue about their learning and goals
• Expanding student roles and responsibilities in the program
• Making learning relevant and engaging
• Providing consistency

We hope you'll take a closer look at this important data.

Free Federal resources for Educational Excellence: Teaching and Learning resources from Federal Agencies

This site is chock-full of resources and lesson plans around Language Arts, Math, Science, History and Social Sciences, and World Studies. Resources are in the form of photographs, primary source documents, animation, and videos. The further one explores into the site, the more excellent resources one will uncover. Some samples include:

• Geography and geosciences resources-maps, etc.
  http://www.free.ed.gov/subjects.cfm?subject_id=16&toplvl=177
• The Learning Page, from the Library of Congress offers resources and lesson plans around political cartoons, mapmaking, US elections, and poetry:
  http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/features/index.html
• EDSITEment, from the National Endowment for the Humanities, offers subject-based access to top humanities sites, EDSITEment lesson plans, and at-home activities. Subject areas include literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and… (National Endowment for the Humanities)
  http://edsitement.neh.gov/default.asp
• Outline of U.S. History presents 15 chapters on U.S. history: early America, the colonial period, independence, formation of a national government, westward expansion and regional differences, sectional… (Department of State)
• Naturalization Self Test tests your knowledge of U.S. history and the structure of our government… (Citizenship and Naturalization Services, supported by Department of Homeland Security)
• Summer Workshops provides materials from dozens of teacher presentations on literacy, math, science, history, and the arts at the U.S. Department of Education's Teacher-to-Teacher Summer Workshops… (Department of Education)

Web Sites to Know from Teacher Magazine

Recommended by Beverly Rosario, ACLS, this terrific site offers selected low-cost curriculum and Professional development resources for teachers:
http://www.teachermagazine.org/tsb/articles/2009/03/16/02sites.h02.html

If you haven't already seen this in the MCAE Advocate,
Tax Facts At a Glance: New Fact Sheets on the Income Tax, Sales Tax, Gas Tax, Local Options Taxes, and Examining Tax Fairness

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center has recently released a series of fact sheets on the state's tax system. The fact sheets, 1-2 pages long, include background on the state income tax, the sales tax, the gas tax, local options taxes, and examining tax fairness. They are designed to supplement MassBudget's Understanding Our Tax System: A Primer for Active Citizens.

The fact sheets can be found at www.massbudget.org or by selecting these titles: The Income Tax; The Sales Tax; The Gas Tax; Local Options Taxes; Examining Tax Fairness.

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies, as well as economic issues, that affect low- and moderate-income people in Massachusetts.

Questions? Please contact Jane Schwerdtfeger at janes@doe.mass.edu