Results of Surveys about Possible Changes to Credentialing System for Adult Education

This Spring the Legislative Analyst Office recommended getting rid of the K-12 Adult School credential.  You can read more about that here.

I created a survey asking folks their thoughts on this entitled, "Keep, Change, Throw Away."  You can see that post and the survey here.

Results of survey intended for Adult Ed folks across the state of California. 

Results of survey intended for San Mateo Adult School teachers.

Be sure to click on "Responses" to read the details of what people think.

Two things seem clear from the surveys:

*  The credential system needs improvement

*  Many people in Adult Education do not feel their voice and ideas are heard or valued.

I do feel my voice is valued - and perhaps that is because I have engaged in so much advocacy work - including starting and running this blog.  But closer to the truth, I think, is that I started the blog and engage in advocacy work because I think our ideas and voices matter and have power.  Skills and organization amplify our voices and bring our ideas to the table.  How the larger conversations go depends on many factors - who else is at the table, how much our ideas threaten the status quo, what else is going on at the table and in the larger zeitgeist, etc.   But as we have seen over and over throughout history, skill, organization and commitment played as a long game have tremendous power.

Thank you to each of you who took the time to answer the survey.  Your voices and ideas make a difference and I will do my best to get them out there through these survey results. 

I was very late in taking the surveys, myself, in closing the survey, and now in sharing results due to my efforts to to keep shoes on my child's feet (said the shoemaker).  You can see I also bungled my responses in a way that doesn't misrepresent my views but make it a bit hard understanding them.

But finally!  Here they are!  The results!

Please take a look at them and consider the responses, ideas, views, etc. 

Discussion of this recommendation by the LAO to drop the Adult School credential went quiet this summer - but I am sure it will return.  We must be ready to engage in meaningful dialogue about the value of a credential in Adult Education. With facts and good ideas, we must push for what we think best serves the profession and our students.

- Cynthia Eagleton

Mom, blog author, ESL teacher at SMAS, vice-president of CFT Local 4681, sometime ball dropper.