Coaching and mentoring in adult basic education

Adult basic education teachers come to the profession with little formal training in working with adult learners, and many have no paid preparation time, limited instructional resources and access to professional development, and little contact with other ABE teachers. Multiple mentoring and coaching models have recently been developed to meet ABE practitioner needs. The authors describe three unique projects that took place in the Massachusetts, Ohio, and Minnesota adult basic education systems, utilizing mentoring and coaching for professional learning. Massachusetts teachers participated in mentor teacher groups and reported more change than teachers in other types of professional learning situations. They also valued opportunities for one-to-one observation and feedback from the mentor. The Ohio model of peer coaching emphasized a relationship between peers that is collaborative, nonevaluative, reciprocal, and grounded in the process of cognitive coaching and the idea of gradual release of responsibility. In Minnesota, the state professional development system and its university partner launched a peer coaching project for partner teachers that incorporates aspects of action research and multiple rounds of observations and reflection. The chapter includes suggestions for good practice and further research into the effectiveness of mentoring and coaching as an approach to providing adult basic education teachers with high-quality professional development.