Narrative: a.

The content standards for the Minnesota Adult Basic Education (ABE) system comprise three components: 1. the federally–developed College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) for Adult Education (https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/CCRStandardsAdultEd.pdf), which identify key English Language Arts/Literacy, Math, and Foundational Reading Skills; 2. the Minnesota–developed Academic, Career and Employability Skills (ACES) Transitions Integration Framework (TIF) (http://atlasabe.org/professional/transitions), which identifies key professional or soft skills in the areas of Effective Communication, Learning Strategies, Critical Thinking, Self–Management, Developing a Future Pathway, Navigating Systems; and 3. the Minnesota–developed Northstar Digital Literacy Standards (available at www.digitalliteracyassessment.org), which identify key basic digital literacy skills needed to perform tasks on computers and online.

The CCRS for Adult Education are drawn from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Minnesota state–adopted K–12 standards for English Language Arts and Literacy align with the CCSS. The current Minnesota state–adopted K–12 standards for Mathematics encompass some content that is beyond the scope of the CCSS, but are largely aligned with the CCSS. Eligible providers will be required to demonstrate that their curriculum, instruction, and assessment are aligned to these MN ABE content standards and that their staff have been trained on the use of the standards.

In order to ensure that all ABE practitioners are knowledgeable of the above listed standards and understand how to use them effectively to guide instruction and programming, the Minnesota ABE system will provide systematic professional development and other support to eligible providers including: a) face–to–face workshops and online trainings; b) training modules based on the College and Career Readiness Standards–in–Action training tools and processes; c) technical assistance to eligible providers focused on standards implementation; d) support for local Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) focused on standards implementation; e) online standards resource libraries; and f) support for the use of standards–aligned Open Educational Resources (OERs).