The one true maxim in education is that the profession is always changing. With change come challenges but also the opportunity for great accomplishment. As K-12 educators prepare for the implementation of the Common Core Standards, Adult Education is being introduced to a portion of the standards that the Federal Department of Education thinks are most beneficial to Adult Education learners. This set of standards is known as the College and Career Readiness Standards, or CCRS. The CCRS is going to have a great amount of influence on all Adult Education programs across the nation.
These standards will focus on the skills and content that employers and post-secondary institutions have identified as critical to a person’s future success. As Adult Education providers, PIC will be held accountable by the state to make sure that these new standards are being implemented throughout our classes. The skills that have been identified as the greatest need for adult education are: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language, and Mathematics (Numbers and Operations, Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Geometry, and Measurement and Data). These sets of standards are going to bring a level of content consistency to all of our classrooms, plus provide rigor that will translate into better results for all of our adult learners. Our program is excited to begin the process of “unpacking” these standards and creating fun, informative, and challenging classroom activities to coincide with these standards.
The changes that are coming to Adult Education will allow us as instructors and administrators the chance to have ownership over what we teach and how we choose to teach content in our classrooms. Benefits will include:
- We will be responsible for what is taught in our classrooms.
- It gives us a clear understanding of what it is that we will be judged on as a program, and in turn will strengthen our position as a valuable program to this region.
We look forward to what this process will mean to our profession, but most importantly our students.