Tennessee Action Research
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Tennessee ESOL in the Workplace: A Training Manual for ESOL Supervisors and Instructors (2002-2005)
During the program year 2002-2003, a task force of five adult education supervisors and five English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teachers met to review efforts already underway in other states, as well as efforts underway in Tennessee, to establish an ESOL program in the workplace. Following this action research conducted by the task force, a training manual was written and training was conducted throughout the state during the program year 2003 and 2004. The manual contains four modules: Knowing and Presenting Your Adult Education ESOL Program to Business and Industry, Knowing Your Community’s Needs and Understanding the Workplace, Designing a Plan to Deliver and Sustain Services, and Knowing Your Results by Monitoring and Evaluating Progress.
Fifty-one adult education programs attended this training initiative and then returned to their adult education programs to develop their own workplace program. Three months later they met for a follow-up session to report on the work they had accomplished. The data from this follow-up will be used for additional research and to assist other counties in the state who will be taking this training next year.
Funded by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Office of Adult Education.
Tennessee ESOL Curriculum Resource Book (2001)
This was a one-year action research project in which the Tennessee ESOL Peer Trainers and the EL/Civics grantees developed a 520-page ESOL Curriculum Resource Guide(http://www.cls.utk.edu/esol_curriculum_book.html). Included in this guide are Student Learning Plans for Civics, Workplace, multi-level ESOL classes as well as plans for each of the six ESOL levels.
Action Research – Learning Disabilities (2000-2001)
As a professional development activity coordinated by the UT Center for Literacy Studies, adult educators studied LD appropriate instruction, practiced methodology with each other and their students, and tried to develop ways of building self-advocacy in their students. Practitioners in Families First classrooms field-tested a variety of LD curricular resources that included: (1) methodologies and (2) accommodations/adaptations in five curricular areas: basic skills, critical content (e.g., GED), learning strategies, self-advocacy, and social/employability skills. Keys to Effective LD Teaching Practice (http://www.cls.utk.edu/keys_to_ld.html) documents these results.
It Gave Me A Chance: Helping Adult Learners Attain Goals of Employment and Self Sufficiency (1999-2000)
An action research project funded through the Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Human Services. This project was designed to address the question of creating a work-focused Families First classroom in order to help adult learners achieve their goals of employment and self-sufficiency. Adult educators generated various strategies to implement a work-focus while addressing the educational component of this welfare-to-work initiative. Two publications originated from this action research: lesson activities derived from practice were published in the 2000 Families First Idea Book: Integrating Work Skills and Basic Skills (http://www.cls.utk.edu/2000_idea_book.html); the stories of the 16 adult educators were published in the report It Gave Me A Chance: Helping Adult Learners Attain Goals of Employment and Self Sufficiency. Lessons from this publication are also found on the LINCS Workforce Special Collection, Learning Activities Bank (LAB).
Documenting Outcomes for Learners and Their Communities: Developing Performance Accountability at the Local Level (Fall 1998 thru Spring 2000)
This action research project has involved teams from programs in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia working with CLS staff. Program staff have worked with learners to develop processes to document changes in learners' lives, for example increased support for their children's education or taking increased responsibility for their own learning. Documenting these outcomes has also enabled programs to examine their own performance. A guide for adult education programs wanting to follow a similar process was developed and field-tested in Tennessee – How are we doing? An inquiry guide for adult education programs. Purpose- To develop processes to be used to document student outcomes at the program level. Funding source- NCSALL/OERI. Contacts- Beth Bingman at the UT Center for Literacy Studies. Collaborators- Knox County Adult Literacy Program, Mt. Rogers Regional Adult Education Program, and Knott County Adult Education Center.
Making It On My Own: Helping Adult Learners Move Toward Self-Sufficiency (1998-1999)
An action research project funded through the Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Department of Human Services. This project addressed the question of how to better prepare Families First (Tennessee=s welfare-to-work initiative) adult learners for the world of work. Teachers proposed ideas in the broad categories of replication of a work environment in the classroom and job shadowing. Stories of the ten adult educators are published in the report Making It On My Own: Helping Adult Learners Move Toward Self-Sufficiency. Lessons are published in the 1999 Idea Book: Integrating Work and Basic Skills (http://www.cls.utk.edu/1999_idea_book.html) Contact - Connie White at clwhite@utk.edu.
Lessons from the Holocaust (1997-99)
The Tennessee Holocaust Commission funded a two-year research and development project for materials about the Holocaust appropriate for adults in literacy and adult basic education programs. With teachers in five ABE field sites, CLS developed a toolkit of resources for teachers across the state; piloted the toolkit and a series of workshops; and then published Lessons from the Holocaust (http://www.cls.utk.edu/holocaust.html), a curriculum framework for teaching ABE students about the Holocaust and its relationship to current issues, including prejudice and discrimination, hate crimes, and the decline in active citizenship. Additional funding from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum allowed two groups of Tennessee teachers and students to participate in educational workshops at the Museum.
In the 2001-02 program year, up to twenty Tennessee practitioners are participating in a workshop at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, with follow-up participation in an action research project that focuses on using Lessons from the Holocaust in communities with new immigrant populations.
If Only I Could...Read, Write, Spell: Identifying and Helping Adults Who Find Learning Difficult. The Action Research Group on Learning Disabilities of The Center for Literacy Studies, 1994.
