Consortia Conference Call

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Consortia Conference Call

• January 18, 2005

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Establishment of Writing Teams
Consortia Conference Call January 18, 2005 Susan
Pimentel
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Writing Teams

• Set up a writing team for each content area
• Reading, Math and ESOL

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Composition of Team Members

1. Representation from a mix of adult education
   program types (most of the team members should be
   educators either instructors or directors)
2. Geographical representation from all areas of the
   state
3. Some representation from client groups (community
   college, employer, student who participated and
   made progress in an AE program)

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Qualifications of AE Instructors

1. Background in the content area (degrees and
   teaching experience)
2. Proven track record in the classroom (leaders,
   innovators, etc.)
3. Energy and a willingness to work hard, even
   between sessions
4. Interest and desire to learn and share

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Qualifications of Client Representatives

• Familiarity with Adult Education
• Expertise or comfort level with the content area
• Energy, interest, and desire to learn and share

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Size 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

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Recruitment 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

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Recruitment 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

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Two 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

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Training 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

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Training 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)

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Training 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

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Training 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

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Meetings

1. Pros of 2-day versus 1 day meetings
2. 6-7 hours is about the right number of hours per
   day
3. Serve food! (breakfast, snacks)
4. Teams need to meet at least four times (more if
   they are doing most of the writing)

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Other Tips

1. Expect and make room for some grumbling about
   standards, etc. (Its okay, even a good thing!)
2. Run a best hopes and worst fears discussion
3. Develop a list of assumptions, issues, and
   questions
4. Hold high expectations for learners
5. Be clear that you will be giving them feedback
   (that the standards will have to meet certain
   standards)