A Decade of Progress: 10 Years of CCRS in Minnesota Adult Education

It’s hard to believe, but we’ve been working with the College & Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education (CCRS) for 10 years in Minnesota! We’ve come a long way with “the blue book” in MN Adult Education. Working with the CCRS and a standards-based framework has changed the way many of us teach our adult learners; aligned teaching with real-world career, college, and community needs; and created clearer and more consistent learning pathways for adult learners.

Minnesota was one of the first states to participate in OCTAE’s national training in Washington, D.C., led by Susan Pimentel, the writer of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the CCRS. From the 2014 training, a team developed the first introductory CCRS ELA and Math Foundations trainings (the precursor to CCRS Foundations training now provided in person at events and also through the Canvas course). Early on, the team presented sessions at Summer Institute and regionals that introduced participants to the CCRS shifts and practices. However, 2015 was the year we really got started with the work of CCRS implementation in the MN Adult Ed system.

In 2015, a team completed advanced Standards-in-Action training. Then more comprehensive CCRS training and support began to take shape. Early professional development with the advanced implementation tools occurred in working group meetings of the Standard Adult Diploma. We often referred to these trainings as “CCRS by Firehose” as the early program adopters got a lot of intense training in short chunks of time!

The CCRS became a key part of Standard Adult Diploma content and was also integrated into STudent Achievement in Reading (STAR) training. The Transitions Integration Framework (TIF) was revised in 2016 when the CCRS became our guiding document for academic skills, replacing the “Numeracy” and “Academic Language & Skills” categories that were part of the original TIF. In many ways, the CCRS were becoming an integral part of teaching and learning in MN Adult Education.

Those early professional development events and diploma trainings (and many planning meetings with lots of sticky notes and flipchart paper!) developed into what is now the year-long CCRS Implementation Cohort, which is offered every other year by application for program teams. Our first Cohort in 2017 included 11 consortia!

The yearlong CCRS Implementation Cohort was designed to support administrators in leading and observing standards-based education on a program level, as well as supporting teachers to develop and review instruction and instructional resources for CCRS-based teaching and learning. Since that first Cohort in 2017, participant feedback has continually informed CCRS work, and tools and processes have been updated and streamlined with the help of many colleagues.

In 2021, another state team attended an intensive Standards-in-Action 2.0 Institute focused on supporting English learners (ELs). Including support for teachers of ELs has been part of standards implementation in MN Adult Education from the beginning. CCRS Leaders in the MN system have consistently held a strong belief that ALL adult learners can do the work of the CCRS with the right support. Programs were well-prepared for changes in CASAS GOALS and STEPS testing, both which incorporate the standards in assessment content.

Minnesota is often recognized as a state that has developed significant resources and training around incorporating the standards for adult learners at every level. Our CCRS in the ABE Classroom video series that focuses on ESL is considered a key resource nationally for this work, and some of the tools we’ve developed – such as our CCRS text-dependent question stems and frames documents – are used in many state systems. MN content developed around the CCRS has been presented in many state and national conferences with pride.

As we reflect on ten years of CCRS implementation in Minnesota, one thing is clear: this work continues to evolve with the needs of our adult learners and educators. What began with “the blue book,” some sticky-note-fueled planning sessions, and “firehose” trainings has grown into a framework that has changed the way teaching and learning happen in MN Adult Education.

And the work continues! We will be focusing on creating future opportunities, including a possible new cohort experience that integrates all three sets of MN Adult Education content standards. Stay tuned to ATLAS in the next year or two for future updates on additional standards training, processes, tools, and support that make sense for Minnesota adult educators and students.