Background

To have the best-educated, most competitive workforce in the world, all Americans–regardless of their backgrounds or educational path–must be prepared to succeed in college and careers. To achieve this goal, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education's (OVAE) is committed to improving student learning through high quality and effective teaching.

Overview

OVAE, through a contract with American Institutes for Research, will promote teacher quality and effectiveness in adult education through several major activities. The project will develop an Environmental Scan to identify the research base, in both K-12 and adult education, and the state of practice in terms of States' use of model teacher competencies and teacher induction systems. The project will also: 1) develop, validate, and field test model teacher competencies and a teacher Induction Model; 2) create a Toolkit of technical assistance resources to support State implementation of teacher competencies and teacher induction; and 3) partner with several States to pilot the competencies, Induction Model and Toolkit. Finally, the project will analyze data from several States and the National Reporting System (NRS), to inform the understanding of the relationship between teacher and learner characteristics and student achievement in adult education. The project period is June 2011 to July 2014.

Project Milestones

• Develop a comprehensive Environmental Scan, Winter 2012.
• Analyze state and NRS data, early 2012.
• Create model teacher competencies and validate with the field, Winter and Spring 2012.
• Design a teacher Induction Model, implementation Toolkit and online courses, Spring to Fall 2012.
• Develop research briefs on teacher effectiveness in adult education, December 2012.
• Field-test model teacher competencies, Toolkit resources and the teacher Induction Model with pilot States, 2013.
• Deliver final models and Toolkit resources, Summer 2014.

Outcomes and Products

• An Environmental Scan that describes the state of practice and best available evidence base on teacher competencies, teacher effectiveness, and teacher induction models.
• Model adult education instructor competencies that identify the knowledge and abilities adult education instructors need to be effective in the 21st century, and a field-tested teacher Induction Model.
• A Toolkit of interactive online courses and print resources to support State and local programs, to understand and use model teacher competencies and teacher induction to enhance learner achievement.
• Research briefs addressing the relationship between teacher characteristics and student achievement in adult education.

Contact:

Patricia Bennett: