Title: Consortia Conference Call
1Consortia Conference Call
2Establishment of Writing Teams
Consortia Conference Call January 18, 2005 Susan
Pimentel
3Writing Teams
- Set up a writing team for each content area
- Reading, Math and ESOL
4Composition of Team Members
- Representation from a mix of adult education
program types (most of the team members should be
educators either instructors or directors) - Geographical representation from all areas of the
state - Some representation from client groups (community
college, employer, student who participated and
made progress in an AE program)
5Qualifications of AE Instructors
- Background in the content area (degrees and
teaching experience) - Proven track record in the classroom (leaders,
innovators, etc.) - Energy and a willingness to work hard, even
between sessions - Interest and desire to learn and share
6Qualifications of Client Representatives
- Familiarity with Adult Education
- Expertise or comfort level with the content area
- Energy, interest, and desire to learn and share
7Size of Team
- 10-12 members is about the right size
- A little bigger or a little smaller is fine,
- but a lot bigger or a lot smaller is not
- Too big and it is hard to get work done, hard for
some to feel comfortable (need professional
facilitation) - Too small and you wont have the cross-section
you are looking for
8Recruitment Selection Strategies
- Write-up a job description and application, and
open it up to the field - Ask folks to apply and answer questions about
- what they hope to gain and give
- why they are interested in serving
- what qualifications they will bring to the table,
etc. - This makes folks understand the importance and
honor that comes with serving
9Recruitment Selection Strategies (continued)
- Call program directors to get names of their most
talented and committed staff (important to
recruit certain talent) and interested and
engaged client representatives - Work to get a mix of veteran and new staff
10Two Approaches(Pros and Cons to Each)
- 1. Team members are major writers and developers
of the standards Then, standards/content experts
review and give feedback - 2. Content/standards experts are chief writers
and developers of standardsTeam members review,
revise and provide feedback on the drafts that
are presented to them
11Training Preparation
- Team members need to
- Know the characteristics of a good standard
(Quick tips) - Have access to the research documents that serve
as a basis for the field in question - Understand how standards fit into the big
picture - Know format requirements and other document
requirements
12Training Preparation (continued)
- Team members also need to
- Understand the parameters under which they need
to work - a. Timeline
- b. Requirements (e.g., must reflect K-12
standards) - c. Process of review and revision (plans
for focus groups, who else gets to review
and approve)
13Training Preparation (continued)
- 6. Set decision-making rules and ground rules for
relating to one another - 7. Define scope of work, team member roles and
responsibilities
14Training Preparation (continued)
- 8. Enable teams to work from other documents
- (not starting from scratch nor from an empty
page) - a. Start by asking team members to review
several model standards documents and report
the strengths and weaknesses of each - b. Facilitate a discussion about whether they
want to build a best from each document or
revise, edit and refine the standards
document that speaks to them the most
15Meetings
- Pros of 2-day versus 1 day meetings
- 6-7 hours is about the right number of hours per
day - Serve food! (breakfast, snacks)
- Teams need to meet at least four times (more if
they are doing most of the writing)
16Other Tips
- Expect and make room for some grumbling about
standards, etc. (Its okay, even a good thing!) - Run a best hopes and worst fears discussion
- Develop a list of assumptions, issues, and
questions - Hold high expectations for learners
- Be clear that you will be giving them feedback
(that the standards will have to meet certain
standards)