Background on the Project

At its March 1998 meeting, the TESOL Board of Directors created a Task Force on Standards for Teachers of Adult Learners, whose charge is to develop a framework of standards for teachers who work with adult learners in the United States. The Board decided to begin with the United States and then investigate the applicability of the standards for settings in other countries. The task force will manage the development of these teacher standards and will oversee their dissemination so that they may have impact within the TESOL profession. The challenge for the task force is that these standards are to be applicable to various adult ESL settings, including community colleges, in both credit and noncredit courses; adult education programs; intensive English programs; programs in university for matriculated university students; and workplace sites.

TESOL also has another task force working on teacher standards: the P-12 Teacher Education Standards Task Force. The P-12 task force has written standards for teachers who teach in P-12 education in the United States. These standards were developed in conjunction with TESOL's membership in The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). NCATE will adopt them as part of its system for accrediting programs and institutions that prepare P-12 teachers in the United States.

Although the audiences for these two sets of standards are different, the two task forces share a common orientation toward their tasks. Both task forces agree that standards should be performance-based. This direction is consistent with other standards for teachers, including the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. This means that standards will define what teacher candidates need to know and be able to do--the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are essential for effective teaching in particular settings. Further, the assessment of these candidates' knowledge, skills, and dispositions will be based on performance indicators. These indicators are statements of ways in which a candidate can demonstrate that he or she has achieved the standard.

Performance-based assessment differs from earlier teacher assessment designs, such as competency-based teacher education, because it is a coherent, integrated system that flows from the standards. These standards lay out the profession's view of effective teaching. Performance-based standards follow the logic that

• teachers can demonstrate the standards in their teaching
• teaching can be assessed through what teachers do with their learners in their classrooms or virtual classrooms (teacher performance)
• this performance can be detailed in what are called "indicators": examples of evidence that teachers can meet part of a standard
• the processes used to assess teachers need to draw on complex evidence of performance. In other words, indicators are more than simple how-to statements.
• performance-based assessment of the standards is an integrated system. It is not a checklist or a series of discrete assessments.
• each assessment within the system has performance criteria against which the performance can be measured
• performance criteria identify to what extent the teacher meets the standard
• student learning is at the heart of teachers' performance

TESOL's move to standards and performance-based assessment of teaching will serve members and the profession in defining what the TESOL profession sees as effective teaching.

The Task Force on Standards for Teachers of Adult Learners has drafted the standards, which can best be explained by looking at Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 is a visual representation of the standards model. In the center of the model is a circle representing student learning. As mentioned above, student learning is at the center of performance-based teacher standards because student learning is a central concern for all teachers. Surrounding student learning in two concentric circles are the eight Standards for Teachers of Adult Learners. These standards support and sustain student learning. Planning, Instructing, and Assessing are the first three Standards in the middle circle. Planning is the way in which a teacher plans for, adjusts, and follows up on instruction. Instructing is what teachers do in a classroom setting. Assessing is the way in which a teacher uses knowledge and student performance to make decisions about future planning and instruction.

The outer circle contains five standards--Language, Learning, Identity and Setting, Content, and Developing Professionalism. Language refers to an understanding of what language is and how it is used. Learning refers to an understanding of the learning process in formal and informal settings and the specific requirements and place of language in that process. Identity and Setting focuses on who the learners are and how their communities, heritage, and goals shape learning and their experiences of learning. Also included in this standard are sociocultural and sociopolitical environments that create and influence identity and, therefore, learning. Content refers to the teacher having content-area expertise, knowing how to collaborate with content-area teachers, or being able to facilitate the independent learning of content. Developing Professionalism focuses on understanding the nature of ESL teaching as part of and in relation to the broader community, the broader teaching community, and the community of English language teaching professionals. It is the way in which a teacher takes from a community information that will help guide planning, instructing, and assessing. Such activities as peer coaching, publishing, conducting research, professional association activity, and collegiality are part of this standard. It is also the way that a teacher takes from student learning to inform and change a community. It is a reciprocal process between these different communities and the classroom.

Collectively, these eight standards represent the core of what professional teachers of ESL to adult learners should know and be able to do.

What's Next for This Standards Project?

In January 2001, TESOL interest sections were asked to nominate individuals to serve as performance indicator writers. They looked for writers to represent the different areas these standards represent (e.g., noncredit community college, adult education, intensive English programs). Six writers were chosen to meet with the task force in October to work on performance indicators. The standards were revised in October based on earlier feedback. The task force continues to elicit feedback from the TESOL membership on this project as various pieces are drafted. Please watch this page for our notices and announcements. Your feedback is vital to the success of this project.