Texas Adult Education initiatives to better serve adults with special learning needs

Texas Adult Education has a state professional development initiative called "Effective Instruction for All Adult Education Students Including Those with Special Learning Needs". Developed in consultation with Nancie Payne and Neil Sturomski, the initiative's overall goal is to assist adult education staff to understand and recognize the needs of all adult learners, including those who have learning disabilities and other special learning needs - and to identify and use effective instructional practices with all learners - as well as applying accommodations to enable adult learners to maximize their potential and reach their goals. This sustained professional development opportunity takes 48 hours of instruction along with time to complete practice work with students in the classroom. For more information, see the initiative's web page http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/texaslearns/initiatives/learning.html or contact Tracy Hendrix at Texas LEARNS (http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/texaslearns/index.htm).

The national Learning to Achieve (L2A) professional development initiative has also been implemented in Texas. With help from the Volunteer Training Initiative at TCALL (http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/volinit.html), Texas has invested in developing a cadre of L2A-certified trainers, whose services are made available through the state's 8 regional professional development (GREAT) Centers and through the Volunteer Training Initiative as well.