ABE Professional Development (PD) Resources
Workshops & Conferences
MN ABE PD calendar:
Regional event registration and information:
Supplemental services:
Online PD
The Minnesota Literacy Council offers free online courses for MN ABE educators. You can earn CEUs for many of the courses by completing a short assignment. For more info:
Courses currently offered:
ABE Professional Development (PD) Resources
- ABE/GED Classroom Volunteer Training
- ABE Teacher Orientation (under development)
- Computer Literacy Curriculum Planning
- ESL Classroom Volunteer Training
- Fundamentals of Curriculum Development
- Literacy-Level ESL
- Lesson Planning
- Mental Health in Adult Basic Education
- Multi-Level English Language Instruction
- New Citizenship Tutor Training
- Peer Mentoring for Adult Educators
- Putting Technology to Work for Your Students
- Reading Assessment for ABE
- Research-based Beginning Reading Instruction for Adults
- Teaching Adults with ADHD
- Teaching Grammar in Adult ESL
- Teaching Pronunciation
- Understanding CASAS for Student Success
- Using Volunteers in the Classroom
ABE Professional Development (PD) Resources
World Education offers online professional development opportunities that include self-paced tutorials or courses facilitated by prominent specialists in their field.
For more info:
Florida Tech-Net offers a variety of free online trainings for adult educators.
For more info:
The Media Library of Teaching Skills (MLoTS) for adult learning and literacy project is a free, online, digital library of short videos of adult education teachers and their classes or tutorials, intended for use in professional development.
The New American Horizons Foundation is developing a series of short, accessible teacher training videos, Teaching ESL to Adults: Classrooms in Action,addressing aspects of adult ESL instruction. Each video is about 30 minutes in length and uses classroom footage and instructor interview footage to illustrate topics in adult ESL practice such as approaches to teaching each of the four skills, planning lessons, working with emergent literacy learners, and grammar and vocabulary development in context. All the videos will be available free of charge online, or DVDs can be purchased for a minimal cost-recovery fee. Two videos are currently available and others will be posted as they are completed.
Research and Resources for Study Circlesor Self-Study
The NationalCenter for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)
Research & resources for study groups, information on study circles and research to practice. Study circle topics include Adult Student Persistence, Research-based Adult Reading Instruction, Teaching and Learning in Authentic Contexts, and others.
ATLAS website - links to resources and research briefs:
CAELA (Center for Adult English Language Acquisition) Resources – research briefs, digests, and bibliographies that can be used for study groups:
CAELA study circle guides for several ESL-focused topics:
Teaching ESL to Adults: Classrooms in Action– teacher training videos that can be used for study groups or staff meetings. See the description above under “online PD.”
Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition (LESLLA) for Adults
An international forum of researchers who share an interest in research on the development of second language skills by adult immigrants with little or no schooling prior to entering the country of entry. Find the agendas, materials and presentations from international LESLLA workshops as well as links to related publications, research, websites, and resources.
Site Visits
Are you looking for new ideas for your program or classroom? Do you wonder how others in the ABE field have approached some of the same challenges you experience? A site visit to another program is an excellent professional development opportunity. To help maximize your learning experience while visiting another ABE program, the Professional Issues committee of Literacy Minnesota has developed a Site Visit Guide. Earn 3 CEUs by thoughtfully completing and submitting the guide to the Professional Issues committee.
Materials available at:
Minnesota ABE Professional Development Standards:
Want to learn more about effective professional development?
Resources on research & best practices in PD: