Learning Forward's new Learning Designs standard is an important reminder that shaping professional learning as opportunities for adults to learn and grow is essential and that one's understanding of how adults learn is an essential component of this pressing goal. This article discusses the three strands of the Learning Designs standard: (1)…

"What is happening in education today?" and "What is most needed for the future of teaching, learning and leading?" This article presents a developmental approach to learning, leadership and advancing professional learning--one that takes into account adults' diverse meaning making processes--that can help educators build the…

This research was part of a larger, mixed-methods study, funded by the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, which examined the learning and change experiences of 41 learners in three ABE/ESOL programs. This paper examines a Polaroid diploma program with a focus on women workers, employing gender (relational) and…

How can a principal create opportunities for teacher learning that really work to support teachers with different needs and preferences? There is wide agreement that the best teacher development is informal, diverse, democratic, school-based, and continuous. The best programs ignite and sustain teachers' excitement in learning, growing, and…

This qualitative study investigated how 25 school leaders in the US understand the practices they use to support teacher learning in their schools. The primary question guiding this research includes: How do these schools leaders, who serve in diverse school contexts with different levels of resources, exercise their leadership in support of adult…

Scholars and practitioners recognize the significance of improving leadership preparation programs. This longitudinal study (surveys and interviews) investigates how course structure and curricula supports graduate students' learning about content as well as how to attend and facilitate adult development. This paper describes: (a) changes in…

The authors carefully followed for a year or more the inner experiences of learning and change of 41 ABE/ESOL (Adult Basic Education/English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners from all over the world. They were enrolled in three distinct U.S. programs (a community college, a family literacy site, and a workplace site), each oriented to…

This book offers a new and promising way to support adults in Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programs specifically, and learners in adult education, in general. Applying renowned Harvard University psychologist Robert Kegan's constructive-development theory, Drago-Severson depicts an in-depth…

In much research, learners' perspectives tend to be considered in light of a program's expectations or U.S. society's definitions of learner needs, rather than considering how learners would define and make sense of their own experiences, hopes, and needs. In contrast, this study considers learners' meanings as the fundamental starting point for…

family literacy, and workplace sites) for a year or more to examine their experiences of learning and change. Each program was aimed at enhancing participants? English language fluency, content knowledge, and effectiveness as students, parents, and/or workers. The purpose of this study was to better understand how these adults experienced learning…

How do ABE/ESOL (Adult Basic Education/English for Speakers of Other Languages) programs shape adult learners, and how do adult learners, in turn, shape their programs? Beyond the acquisition of important skills (such as greater fluency in the English language) what are the bigger internal meanings for adults of participating in ABE/ESOL…