Training the Trainer

What are the components of effective training? What resources are available to assist in the development or enhancement of your training program? Consult nationally recognized guidelines on designing, implementing and evaluating tutor training workshops.

Certification

Good training starts with good trainers. Building a competent team requires quality training for those trainers. ProLiteracy Worldwide, currently offers Trainer Certification. For information on the ProLiteracy Certification System, browse through or download the following resources.

ProLiteracy America - Trainer Certification System
ProLiteracy America - Resources for Trainer Certification
ProLiteracy America - Certification Forms

ProLiteracy America Answers Frequently Asked Questions about LLA and LVA

Laubach Literacy Action (LLA) had a system for certifying trainers. Will ProLiteracy America continue to offer this? If so, will I have to become certified if I am a Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) trainer?

“For now, ProLiteracy America will continue to offer the trainer certification system developed by LLA. However, we will be developing a new trainer credentialing system for ProLiteracy America. We expect to be able to provide you with more information about the planning for the new system in the fall of 2003, although it will probably not go into effect until 2005. Until then, LLA-certified trainers may identify themselves as ProLiteracy America trainers. LVA trainers certified by the local program may want to examine the trainer certification requirements to determine if the process that they followed to become certified meets the intent of the requirements. A waiver may be an appropriate step for an LVA trainer to consider. National trainer certification remains optional.”

Certification as a ProLiteracy America trainer requires attendance at a train-the-trainer workshop. Both the Training of Trainers (LVA) and the Trainer Workshop: Basic Training Skills (LLA) are acceptable. What are the similarities and differences?

Both workshops cover similar content:
Lewin's Model — The LLA workshop covers the model explicitly with background on Lewin and the model itself. Trainers practice the model. LVA training breaks the cycle down and examines the individual concepts, e.g., praxis (practice/reflection), drawing on trainee experience, sequence and reinforcement, and so on.

• How Adults Learn — The LLA workshop approaches this with a learning styles inventory. The LVA training focuses on Maslow's theory (20% see, 40% hear and see, 80% hear, see and do). Both trainings encourage participants to incorporate a variety of activities in their trainings to meet all learning styles.
• Questioning Techniques
• Giving and Receiving Feedback
• Practice Presentations — The LVA training requires participants to make 10-minute, individual presentations, based on the trainer’s guide their local program uses. The LLA workshop uses a team approach, where the team develops and presents a tutor training segment.

The differences include the following:

• Training styles inventory and analysis is unique to the LLA workshop.
• The LVA training also addresses the following topics: achievement-based objectives, evaluation/reflection, three aspects of learning, and workshop planning steps.

Some general impressions from trainers who have participated in both workshops follow:

• The LLA workshop is very practical, giving trainers tips with time to practice them. There are more reading and lecture activities.
• The LVA training is more theory — introducing the theory, then trying out that theory. The activities are very participatory.
• ProLiteracy America will not be blending these two workshops. It will develop a new workshop(s) that will align with the new trainer credentialing system it is developing.”

Our program is not able to access some kinds of training locally. What are ProLiteracy America’s plans for online training?

We currently provide online training in two ways:

1. ProLiteracy America is now offering an online version of the Trainer Workshop: Basic Training Skills (LLA). It will be available on a regular basis next year.
2. With the help of a grant from Verizon Communications, LVA developed an online course, Program Manager Orientation, for new directors of literacy programs. This is a self-paced education module that you can access by going to http://www.proliteracy.org and clicking on the Literacy Volunteers of America site at the bottom of the screen. You also have access to Governance Online, another self-paced online course focused on governance and board issues. Go to the Affiliate’s Only section of the ProLiteracy America website, (http://www.proliteracy.org/proliteracy_america/affiliates_only).

Comparison of LLA and LVA Tutor Trainer Certification

Laubach Literacy Action Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc.
Tutor trainers are certified by the national organization through a collaborative process with a local committee. The local program certifies tutor trainers, using policies and processes determined locally.

Potential tutor trainers are evaluated according to national guidelines for management of the workshop, knowledge of content, methods of presentation, group interaction, and delivery. Tutor trainers are supervised and evaluated by a system determined by the local organization.
The local program offers in-service opportunities or other trainer support to help trainers improve trainings skills or expand content knowledge. The local organization implements a written trainer development plan to ensure their continuous growth and development.

Please see Promising Practices for further information on impacts of the merger on tutor training. For further information, please contact Kaye Beall (kbeall@proliteracy.org), ProLiteracy America’s Training Coordinator.

Other Certificate and Degree Programs

Visit the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy for information on the Certificate in Family Literacy or Master’s Degree in Adult Education through the Penn State World Campus.

Other Resources

New Readers Press offers publications that outline the training programs of Laubach Literacy Action and Literacy Volunteers of America, including:

• LVA Guide for Training Trainers
• LWR Tutor Workshop
• Training By Design
• TUTOR Seventh Edition

Miami-Dade Public Library has a new program called Project L.E.A.D. which empowers English-speaking adults to succeed with confidential one on one tutoring. Tutors volunteering with Project L.E.A.D. must complete a Basic Tutor Workshop or be certified as a ProLiteracy Worldwide, Laubach Literacy Tutor.

For other training resources, please review the Training Links.

Standards

ProLiteracy America has published Guidelines for Effective Training to serve as a resource for program managers and trainers who are reviewing tutor training systems and designing pre-service and in-service trainings. For an in-depth comparison of training standards and guidelines of recently-merged Laubach Literacy Action and Literacy Volunteers of America, please see "Crosswalk on LLA and LVA Training."

The National Institute for Literacy’s Special Collections features an article entitled “A Performance Standard for Teaching and Learning with the Equipped for the Future (EFF) Content Standards”.

The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy publishes “How Are We Doing? An Inquiry Guide for Adult Education Programs” to assist local adult education programs through a systematic exploration of program performance. For other resources on program standards and accountability, please refer to Training Links.