Editor’s Note: More than 135 school leaders from East Brunswick and other Middlesex County school districts came together on August 29, 2009 to complete the first 6 hours of LEGAL ONE training. Charity Fues, Assistant Director of Human Resources for the East Brunswick School District, organized and participated in the training. In the article that follows, Charity applies her knowledge of adult learning to LEGAL ONE, noting that the program “provides comprehensive professional development experiences that are designed to meet the specific needs of adult learners.”

LEGAL ONE Meets the Intrinsic Learning Needs of Adult Learners

Charity Lynn Fues

Assistant Director of Human Resources

East Brunswick Public Schools

As a candidate going through the NJEXCEL program, an expedited supervisor/principal/school administrator certification program for New Jersey School leaders, I completed an Action Research project on adult learners and effective professional development practices for school leaders.

Administrators are often responsible for providing professional development experiences for their staff and for modeling exemplary behavior in a myriad of circumstances. They are often sought out for answers by staff that encounter difficult situations or wish to improve their practice.

While school leaders are communicating the many changes that have occurred at the state and federal levels, it is apparent that many have not been trained in how to manage and make sense of the multiple demands; leaving them overwhelmed with the commitments required of them.

For this reason it is imperative that school leaders have their own “pitchers” filled up on a regular basis to ensure that the standards being exemplified are current and practical for applying to an ever-changing school environment.

The field of adult learning was pioneered by Malcolm Knowles. He identified the following characteristics of adult learners:

• Adults are autonomous and self-directed.
• Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education.
• Adults are goal-oriented.
• Adults are relevancy-oriented.
• Adults are practical, focusing on the aspects of a lesson most useful to them in their work.
• As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect.

(Lieb, 1991)

As a result of the study, I found the LEGAL ONE program to be an excellent resource for school administrators seeking to meet their training requirements in school law, ethics and governance.

According to N.J.A.C. 6A:9-16.7, all active school leaders holding a standard chief school administrator, principal, or supervisor endorsement hired by a local education agency must complete the professional development requirement on ethics, law and governance within four years of their initial date of hire.

The LEGAL ONE program precisely meets the needs of school administrators in the following ways.

• LEGAL ONE Presenters use participants as resources; incorporate open-ended questions to draw out administrators' knowledge and experiences; while providing many opportunities for dialogue among school leaders.
• LEGAL ONE Presenters clarify student expectations of the training; allowing debate and the challenge of ideas. They are careful to protect minority opinions within the training session should they be expressed.
• LEGAL ONE presenters treat questions and comments from administrators with respect. They acknowledge contributions principals, supervisors and superintendents make to the group.
• LEGAL ONE participants are engaged in designing the learning process. The presenters understand that school leaders expect more than one medium for learning and to want control over the learning pace and start/stop times.
• Throughout the training session, LEGAL ONE presenters immediately connect how new knowledge or skills can be applied to current problems or situations through the use of participatory techniques such as case studies and problem-solving groups.
• Instead of giving a theoretical overview, LEGAL ONE presenters focus on theories and concepts within the context of their applications to relevant problems. They orient the training content toward direct applications rather than toward blanket theory.
• Presenters use a variety of teaching materials and methods to take into account differences in style, time, types, and pace of learning.

Overall, the LEGAL ONE team provides comprehensive professional development experiences that are designed to meet the specific needs of adult learners. I highly recommend the program to any school administrator who seeks a meaningful and relevant learning experience as they complete their state training requirements for school law, ethics and governance.

References:

Lieb, S. (1991, Fall). Principles of adult learning. Honolulu. Retrieved from
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidbk/teachtip/adults-2.htm

Adult Learner Characteristics. Rochester Institute of Technology. http://online.rit.edu/faculty/teaching_strategies/adult_learners.cfm