Happy New Year! I can’t believe how fast these first three months of 2019 are flying by! Much has been going on at the ACE office since the December holidays. The New Year brought meetings with new and returning legislative representatives, planning the Best Practices Round-up and scheduling professional development trainings around the state.
The Best Practices Round-up at the Westgate River Ranch was another successful event! Posses from around the state met to share best practices, new ideas, strategies and network with other adult education colleagues. We were excited to have Carol Bailey, Florida’s Adult Education Program Director, and Lisa Williams, Program Specialist with the FLDOE, DCAE, share updates from the state level and participate in our group discussions. We received great feedback on professional development needs around the state and training ideas for the ACE Conference. Really good stuff!
The FLDOE Adult Education Advisory Committees for ESOL, AHS/GED and ABE/Adults with Disabilities met in February. The IET Advisory Committee met in March. These committees serve in an advisory role for the FLDOE, DCAE, providing guidance for concerns and issues in the field; assessment, data reporting and professional development needs; and reviewing curriculum frameworks and standards. Each committee member serves two years, and this was the second year for these members. FLDOE, DCAE will soon be sending out information asking for volunteers to serve on these committees for the 2019-2021 term.
ACE has scheduled several professional development trainings around the state for ESOL Curriculum Frameworks, Learning Disabilities, CASAS e-Tests Training, and Part-time Teacher Academies. All of these trainings are no charge to participants. Be sure to visit the ACE website and check out the list of upcoming trainings offered in your area. We encourage you take advantage of these professional development events, and hope to see you at one (or more!) of them.
The 2019 Legislative Session is underway and ACE is keeping track of several bills that could have an effect on adult education. Be assured that ACE’s Legislative Committee (Dave Barnes, Melanie Stefanowicz and Jeff Arnott) is closely following the progress of each one. Read the Committee’s most recent legislative update in this newsletter. As Session continues, they will be providing weekly updates via email to all membership.
The 2019 Summer Symposium is scheduled for June 9-11, at the Wyndham Grand Jupiter at Harbourside in Jupiter, Florida. This is a big year for the Symposium…celebrating our 25th anniversary, shortening the agenda by one day and moving to the east coast! The Symposium remains an important forum for administrators to discuss critical issues related to adult education, immigrant issues, updates from the FLDOE, WIOA, CareerSource partnerships, CCR, data and group discussions on issues from the field. Symposium registration and hotel reservations are now open! For more information, please contact the ACE office.
There are so many great things happening in adult education around the state! You read and hear about them in the news, on social media and through networking. Follow us on our Facebook and Twitter, and share your stories with us! We love supporting and sharing your programs’ successes. Thank you for all you do for our adult education students and programs, and for your support of ACE of Florida.
Julie