California. Dept. of Education. Adult Education Office

Administrative History

California adult educators have a rich history of professional networking and in-service education accomplished by state-wide and regional conferences. Many conferences are sponsored by professional organizations and others are sponsored by units of the California Department of Education and funded by a variety of state and federal sources.

The oldest and largest professional organization for California adult educators is the California Council for Adult Education (CCAE), which was formed in the early nineteen-forties, during World War II, with leadership from the California Department of Education. Membership included administrators, teachers, classified support staff, students, and community leaders. Legislative advocacy, professional development, and recognition of the accomplishments of adult educators are CCAE's main activities. In 2006, CCAE had over 3,600 active individual members and included six sections and many district-based chapters.

The Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) was formed in 1971 with a strong adult education component. The California Association of Adult Education Administrators (CAAEA) disbanded. The ACSA adult education committee collaborated with the California State Department of Education on staff development initiatives and held annual workshops, usually in the fall.

A new professional organization, the California Adult Education Administrators' Association (CAEAA) was founded in 1990 by a group of adult education administrators who wanted to take an active role in developing legislation. With CCAE and ACSA, CAEAA sponsored the adult education reform bills of 1992. CAEAA began hosting an annual conference at the first of the year.

For about twelve years (1982-1993), concurrently with the conferences of the professional organizations, the California Department of Education sponsored through its federally funded staff development projects, an annual conference to promote competency-based (adult) education.

Through other federally funded leadership projects, the California Distance Learning Project and the Outreach and Technical Assistance Network, the California Department of Education sponsored conferences to promote technology and distance learning in the 2000s.

Other California professional organizations had components related to adult education.

The California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL) was organized by geographic region and by educational segment (elementary, secondary, adult, community college, university), with adult education being the largest segment.

The California Library Association (CLA) celebrated its 100th annual conference year in 1998. In recent years there has been an active "literacy services" interest section supported by the California State Library.

California Literacy, Inc. (Cal Lit) is California Literacy is a nonprofit adult volunteer literacy organization that began in 1956. Cal Lit promotes and provides coordination for local literacy programs that provide literacy services to adults and families in California. It is supported by community based organizations, library literacy programs, and adult education.

Computer-Using Educators, Inc. (CUE) is a nonprofit founded in 1978. CUE's goal is to advance student achievement through technology in all disciplines from preschool through college. CUE is primarily supported by public elementary and secondary school teachers, but adult educators could find much valuable information at CUE's educational technology conferences.

California adult educators also were active in national professional organizations.

The American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) was formed in 1983 by a combination of two older organizations, the National Association of Public and Continuing Adult Education (NAPCAE) and the Adult Education Association of the USA (AEA).

The Council for Adult Basic Education (COABE), a part of AAACE until the mid-1990s, is an organization to advance national and international adult education and literacy programs, including Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, English for Speakers of Other Languages, Family Literacy, Skills Development, and Workforce Development. COABE sponsors publications and professional development conferences.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), of which CATESOL is a state affiliate, has a large adult education component. The annual conferences are held in California about every ten years.

The American Library Association (ALA) is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 64,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services. Adult educators connect with ALA's Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS).

The Adult Literacy and Technology (ALT) began in 1985 as a national effort dedicated to finding solutions for using technology to enhance adult literacy. Annual conferences and pre-conferences have been sponsored by ALT in collaboration with a variety of other organizations, most recently COABE, AAACE, and ProLiteracy.

National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) was established in 1989 to pioneer educational strategies to benefit at-risk children and families.

The annual Technology, Reading and Learning Difficulties (TRLD) International Conference is held each January in San Francisco, California. In 2006, the International Reading Association (IRA) co-sponsored the TRLD conference. This conference was founded by Educational Computer Conferences, Inc., first established in 1982, a corporation directed by Diane Frost. The TRLD conference has been recently acquired by Don Johnston Incorporated. TRLD is the only conference that integrates technology interventions with expert literacy strategies to ensure student success. The Conference brings together educators, experienced literacy leaders and technology experts to share, discuss, and work towards a solution to the nationwide concern of bringing literacy success to all students.

Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) in 2002 joined with another national organization for literacy tutors, Laubach Literacy International, to become ProLiteracy.

From the guide to the Adult Education Conference Catalogs Collection, 1979-2011, (Sacramento County Office of Education. Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.)

Administrative History

The Joint Board Task Force on Noncredit and Adult Education was established in 1997 as a result of Governor Pete Wilson's veto message of Assembly Bill 824 which proposed the establishment of a joint working group composed of representatives of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and the California State Board of Education to address mutually important and recurring issues. The Joint Board Task Force which came to be known as the Joint Board Committee (JBC) held five field public meetings for experts to present testimony on four policy areas: scope of instruction, funding issues, quality and accountability, and collaborative planning. The members that staffed the committee were known as the Interagency Coordinating Team (IACT). In December 1998 the committee produced a report detailing 12 recommendations to promote quality learning opportunities for student success. The committee communicated with the field via a comprehensive Web site.

Beginning in 1999 a Work Group of the JBC continued to work on recommendations and proposed actions. Meetings of the Work Group continued through March 2000. Several subgroups were established. The recommendations and actions items in the Joint Board report received minimal attention because funding was lacking for the Joint Board to continue to hold meetings and staff the subsequent work; consensus between the Legislature and the Governor on solutions was also lacking. Work did begin on cooperative review and update of model standards in five program areas: English as a second language; adult basic education, adult secondary education, parent education, and older adult education.

From the guide to the Joint Board Committee on Noncredit and Adult Education, 1997-2001, (Sacramento County Office of Education. Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.)

Administrative History

The California Staff Development Institute (SDI) was funded from 1994 to 2000 by the California Department of Education, Adult Education Unit with its federal adult education leadership monies. The contractor was the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE). "The Staff Development Institute consolidated staff development projects that previously were funded separately: the ESL Teachers Institute, the Adult Literacy Instructors' Training Institute, the Adult Education Leadership Training Program, and the Professional Resources Outreach System. The primary goals of SDI were providing professional development for implementing the model standards of adult education, offering models for the use of technology, targeting change agents for training, and establishing mentoring systems. The institute facilitated hundreds of professional development activities for thousands of adult education instructors and administrators. It utilized new technologies for distance learning and multimedia learning for delivering staff development training and developed online modules on topics such as family literacy, instructional software evaluation, and classroom use of SCANS competencies. The Adult Education Leadership Institute evolved and expanded under SDI. A process for identifying exemplary adult programs was established, and 34 Programs of Excellence were recognized in 1997-98, 1998-99, and 1999-2000." West, L.L., 2005. Meeting the Challenge: A History of Adult Education in California from the Beginnings to the Twenty-first Century, 89. California Department of Education. The Technical Director of the Staff Development Institute was K. Lynn Savage, who had previously been Director of the ESL Teacher Institute. She was joined in the first year by an Administrative Director, Joan Dailey Polster, a Vice Principal of Adult Education from Sacramento City Unified School District. Mrs. Polster became the sole director in 1995. In 1998 Mrs. Polster joined the California Department of Education as the Administrator of the Adult Education Office and State Director of Adult Education. She was succeeded at SDI by Margaret Kirkpatrick, a visiting educator from Berkeley Adult School, where she was Principal.

From the guide to the California Staff Development Institute, 1994-2000, (Sacramento County Office of Education. Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.)

Administrative History

The California Department of Education (CDE) supports the adult education programs of over 350 public schools. In addition to state (apportionment) funding, California adult education is supported by federal funds that are allocated based on census data. Types of provider agencies that are eligible to apply for federal supplemental funding are public adult schools, community colleges, community-based and faith-based organizations, library literacy programs, and state agencies such as the California Youth Authority.

The Adult Education Office (formerly the Adult Education Unit, among other name variations) has primary responsibility for monitoring both the state and federal programs. An administrator is designated as the State Director of Adult Education for the federal program, and the staff consists of field and internal program consultants and support staff.

Each state submits to the USDOE a plan for the use of its federal dollars, consistent with the authorizing legislation and with local needs. A state plan typically covers three to five years and may be extended. In the late 1980s, California also pursued a strategic planning process which produced several research documents and, in 1989, a strategic plan "Adult Education for the 21st Century," that guided the progress of adult education in the state for the next decade.

Most of the federal supplemental funds are distributed to local providers, but a percentage is reserved for statewide projects. The CDE Adult Education Office identifies service priorities such as assessment, staff development, information disssemination, and support of the use of technology and distance learning. Requests for proposals are designed and contracts are awarded for one to three year periods. Contractors in the 1980s and 1990s have included San Francisco State University Foundation, Pacific Management Research Associates, the Association of California School Administrators, Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, the Sacramento County Office of Education, CSU Dominguez Hills, Los Angeles Unified School District, UCLA, and WestEd.

The individuals whose files are preserved in this collection all worked for CDE in the adult education offices during the period 1981-2001. Their files give insights into the contracting process, including some of the political issues of the time, and to the progress of statewide efforts to support and improve adult education, some of which were controversial.

The papers of Dr. Lynda T. Smith, who was the monitor for several significant contracts during the 1984-1994 period, are the richest. Dr. Smith was a member of the Advisory Committee on Adult Education that produced the 1989 strategic plan, and also was active in national organizations that advocated for adult education, such as AAACE. Dr. Smith's untimely death in June 1994 resulted from a brain tumor.

From the guide to the CDE Adult Education Staff, 1981-2001, (Sacramento County Office of Education. Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.)