PD Centers

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Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment] State PD Centers
From: Miller, Jane Miller_J at cde.state.co.us
Date: Thu Jan 26 15:35:44 EST 2006

Thank you, Jackie, for sending us the useful links in advance of next week's discussion of state PD systems. I am looking forward to learning from the many guests.

I read the guest bios on the LiteracyTentWiki. Several guests mentioned PD centers. I wonder if each guest could describe a typical PD center in their state. If I were to walk into the PD center, what would I see?

  • Is the PD center a single classroom in a district school building or multiple floors in a free-standing building?
  • Does the PD center consist of a few small offices or are there offices, training rooms, a computer lab and a resource library?
  • Would I see a dozen or more full-time staff members or two part-timers?
  • Is the PD center open 40 hours a week or 6? Weekdays only, or Saturdays also?
  • Is the PD center funded solely by WIA Title II Leadership funds or by a school district budget or a community college budget?
  • Do the trainers go out to the local programs or do local programs send teachers to the PD center?
  • What's the greatest distance that teachers must travel to their nearest PD center?

Answers to these questions will give list members a "mental picture" of what each guest means when they refer to their state's PD center during the course of our discussion.

Jane Miller
PD Coordinator
Colorado Department of Education - Adult Education and Family Literacy
miller_j at cde.state.co.us

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment] State PD Centers
From: Corley, Mary Ann MCorley at air.org
Date:Thu Jan 26 16:57:36 EST 2006

Hi, Jane:

Thanks for the good questions. I'll respond for California.

CALPRO has 10 Professional Development Centers (PDCs) throughout the state. The physical set-up of most PDCs consists of one or two rooms located within an adult school or community college or county office of education. The PDC houses an office for the PDC manager and staff, as well as a resource library that adult educators can visit and from which they may borrow materials. The resources range from professional development materials to instructional texts and media to resources on every topic, such as learning disabilities, vocational ESL, numeracy, etc. You can view the holdings statewide by visiting OTAN at www.otan.us (it's a free registration) and clicking on "OTAN Resources," then on "Reference Libraries," then on "Professional Development Centers." Up will come a whole listing of topics. Whe you select a specific topic and then a specific document or resource, you will see a legend that identifies which PDCs house that particular document or resource.

In addition to the resource library, each PDC has classroom space and a computer lab available within the building for hosting workshops, networking meetings, and other PD events. In some instances, the classroom is dedicated space to the PDC, and in other instances, it is shared with the adult school or community college, and different classrooms may be used, based on availability. Ditto for the computer lab.

Staff in the PDCs range from a part-time PDC manager and part-time clerical assistant (in PDCs serving less densely populated regions) to a PDC manager, assistant manager, and clerical or other assistant/reference librarian. CALPRO provides funding to the PDCs and allows each PDC to determine the extent of staff needed to serve its region. In some cases, the PDC is open from 9 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m. five days a week, and in others, the PDC is open two days a week, with well publicized hours. California is extremely diverse, not just in population demographics, but also in geographical region and in population density. In remote areas, there may be an adult ed agency with only one ABE or ESL teacher. In areas such as Los Angeles, adult schools have thousands of students and literally dozens and dozens of teachers. The PDCs are funded accordingly, and they host open hours accordingly.

CALPRO funds the PDCs completely out of WIA Title II funds. However, several of the agencies housing PDCs have made a commitment to this effort and supplement the funds. Most often, this is in the form of in-kind personnel and classroom usage. But sometimes, an agency will purchase materials for the PDC library, absorb costs of mailings and communication, and pay for the PDC manager to attend state and regional conferences.

CALPRO hosts a training of trainers (ToT)on all new workshops we develop so that we build capacity for trainers to facilitate workshops statewide. It's up to the PDC manager to schedule specific workshops and select from among the available trainers. CALPRO strongly encourages the PDC managers to schedule PD events not solely at the agency that houses the PDC, but also throughout the entire PDC service area. Every PDC serves multiple counties, and we strongly encourage the PDCs to collaborate with adult schools and other agencies in their regions to host PD events throughout the region. When they host workshops in diverse locations, many of the PDC managers carry sample resource materials from the PDC library to share with workshop participants.

Because of the sheer size of California and the fact that there are only 10 PDCs to serve the whole state, some teachers do have to travel a few hours to reach a workshop location. And others don't need to travel far at all. To serve those in the more remote areas, CALPRO has developed and offers online courses so that teachers do not need to travel. However, at this point, we have only three courses up and running. We're working on reformatting others of our workshops to an online format so that we can increase the number of online PD opportunities.

Whew! That provides an overview of the PDCs in CA. Please let us know if you have other questions.

What about other states?

Thanks,
-Mary Ann Corley
CALPRO Director

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment] State PD Centers
From: Dlhargrove@aol.com Dlhargrove at aol.com
Date: Fri Jan 27 16:03:11 EST 2006

Hi Jane,
We are always evolving in Florida when it comes to professional development. We have just started a new initiative called, "Communicate, Collaborate, Coordinate." We currently have 5 Regional Training Centers that are composed of volunteer directors, teachers and community-based representatives. Members are full time employees in their respective jobs and volunteer their time to help promote PD in their regions. Each RTC has a chair, who also volunteers their efforts. The Dept. of Education provides funds, through grant money, to each of the Regional Training Centers to pay trainers and stipends to participants.

We also have 6 Practitioner Task Force committees, again comprised of volunteers, who work in collaboration with the Regional Training Centers in providing the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for the training.

Training locations vary, as members in each region volunteer their classrooms or computer labs. They don't have a static office.

This new initiative has just formed, but by the first few months activities, it appears to be a great way of providing training straight to the teachers and others who are in need.

Debra Hargrove
Florida TechNet

Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment] State PD Centers
From: Janet Isserlis Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu
Date: Fri Jan 27 23:49:36 EST 2006

Hi, Debra

Can you please say more about the volunteer element of the system? While on the one hand, it's great that there's so much engagement in the PD process across the state, it also seems that a good number of people are contributing a good amount of time to the effort without [financial] compensation.

What's entailed in the promotion of PD in the regions? It would seem that like many jobs in adult ed, folks surely do more than they're paid for, but I also wonder what the overlap - if any - might be for the folks who give their time to PD. In some instances, I'm guessing, it's not a big stretch to share ideas and encourage colleagues to participate in PD; on the other, I wonder if there are plans (if and as funding permits?) to compensate people for their time?
How do we balance the need to get things done, people's willingness to do it with the realities of acknowledging that work in concrete ways?

Subject:[ProfessionalDevelopment] State PD Centers
From: Dlhargrove@aol.com Dlhargrove at aol.com
Date: Sun Jan 29 13:13:37 EST 2006

Thanks Janet for the question... let me explain a bit further... there is compensation built in to the grants when products are developed... for example, let's say the Adult High School subcommittee votes to develop a new Biology curriculum. They find a subject matter expert and compensate that person for their work. The majority of the committee members are able to attend the meetings on their work schedule... each district "volunteering" their person for the day.

Florida TechNet has a listserv thats primary purpose is to promote PD opportunities and resources throughout the state. I am a member of each of the task force committees and relay their professional development information through our website and listserv.

Each region promotes their training via email distribution lists. The marketing of the training opps has gone real well.

I know it seems odd, but these committee people really give of themselves... it's been one of the most successful initiatives for Florida's Adult Ed community!

debra

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