VALRC

Grant Writing Tips and Tricks Workshop
2026-01-26 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Grant Writing Tips and Tricks Workshop
Learn the Basics and How to Stand Out
Register here.
If you are interested in learning the key components of a successful grant application, how to plan your timeline, and what makes proposals stand out, this workshop is for you.
We’ll break down what makes a strong proposal, how to align with funder priorities, and the common pitfalls to avoid. You’ll walk away with practical strategies, insider tips, and real-world examples from an experienced grant writer at Virginia Works.
Whether you’re new to grant writing or looking to sharpen your skills, this session will help you write with clarity and confidence.
Strengthen your next grant application.

Bi-monthly Program Managers Meeting
2026-01-26 13:30 - 15:30, 2026-03-16 13:30 - 15:30
Bi-monthly virtual meeting for updates, news, and discussion for all adult education program managers.
Register and join here.

GEDTS: The Intersection of Adult Learning Theory and Universal Design
2026-01-27 15:30 - 17:00 | Virtual
Adult learners bring experiences, diverse needs, and complex realities into adult education classrooms. Understanding how adults learn—and how instructional design can support that learning—is essential for creating environments where learners can engage, persist, and succeed.

This webinar examines how Adult Learning Theory and Universal Design work together to increase learner motivation and engagement. Participants will explore adult learner behavior through an Andragogical lens and learn practical Universal Design strategies that address learner variability without lowering expectations. Grounded in real classroom experience, the session offers educators insights to improve instructional design, classroom culture, and learner support.

Register here.

CASAS Assessment Updates and Using Instructional Reports
2026-01-28 14:00 - 15:00
In this training, we provide CASAS updates, review the new test series and their alignment to the College and Career Readiness and English Language Proficiency Standards. We will review the most popular TOPSpro Enterprise instructional reports and discuss ways in which they can be used to help inform instruction.
Register here.

NCFL: Building Digital Skills and Creating Connections: Mini-Projects in Family Learning
2026-01-29 14:00 - 15:00 | Online
Want fresh ideas for helping adult English learners build real-world language and digital skills? This webinar will explore simple, engaging mini-projects that build foundational digital literacy skills. Inspired by learner input, these projects help students connect with their families, workplaces, and communities using everyday digital tools. The presentation will focus on activities that work especially well for learners with limited digital experience. Project materials can be scaffolded, adapted, and reused across a wide range of adult English classrooms. Participants will take away practical, ready-to-use ideas that connect classroom learning to real life.
Presented by Cassandra Kramer, an ESL instructor with the English Empowerment Center in northern Virginia.
Register here

VALRC - Citizenship: Changes and Challenges Webinar
2026-01-29 15:00 - 16:00 | Online
Join this informational webinar to learn about the recent changes to the civics test of the USCIS Naturalization Interview. These changes apply to all applicants who have submitted their naturalization application after October 18, 2025. Catherine McCall, Citizenship Coordinator of Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle (LVCA), will facilitate this webinar.
Catherine McCall serves as the lead designer for all citizenship materials at LVCA. She brings a decade of experience in Social Studies teacher education to this work, along with nearly as many years designing materials and teaching citizenship classes to adult learners, in both Charlottesville and the Washington DC area.
Register here

Career Pathways PLC #1: Career Coaching and Supporting Learners for What’s Next
2026-01-30 12:00 - 13:30
Join us for this five-part series on Career Coaching for adult learners. Part I: Celeste Hall from the Virginia Community College System will facilitate sessions one and two, focusing on the theories and strategies that support career coaching. Part II: Sessions three through five will be facilitated by Dr. Barbara Endel and will focus what it means to be an effective career coach, including intervention strategies, career pathways mapping, and establishing sustainable networks to support learners.
Register and join here.

IET Office Hour
2026-02-04 12:00 - 13:15, 2026-03-04 12:00 - 13:15 | Online
Come discuss IET planning tools, IET maps, and all aspects of programming for IETs, IELCE, and workforce programming in adult education. Come with questions!
IET Office Hours will be held the first Wednesday of every month, except January, from 12p – 1:15p.
Register and join here.

IET 101: The Basics, Register by January 31 to receive the pre-work materials
2026-02-04 13:30 - 14:30
Register here for IET 101: The Basics by January 31 to receive pre-work materials.
This session runs from 1:30p – 2:30p on Wednesday, February 4.

VALRC: LACES Data Analysis Session
2026-02-10 14:00 - 15:30 | Online
Join a group of Virginia practitioners for a hands-on experience working with data in the LACES system.
Join here

Virginia Adult Education Competitive Grant Pre-Proposal Webinar
2026-02-12 13:00 - 14:00
Register here

VALRC: Using Technology to Enhance Reading Instruction PLC
2026-02-12 14:30 - 15:30, 2026-02-26 14:30 - 15:30 | Online
SkillBlox is a free platform that contains over 10,000 vetted, high-quality, free and open educational resources you can use to build engaging lessons in a variety of subjects. In this 2-part workshop, we’ll explore a growing set of ready-to-go lessons (“Blox”) that you can easily save, copy, and adapt for use with your learners.
In part 1, you’ll learn the basics of how to explore SkillBlox for Blox created by other users, as well as how you can copy and adapt these Blox by adding activities, contextualizing content for your learning context, and more.
In part 2, participants will come together to showcase their work and share strategies and tips for how they used and adapted lessons from SkillBlox. Participants will also learn how to create custom pages to build lesson sets to share with learners or other instructors.
Register here.

Career Pathways PLC #2: Career Coaching and Supporting Learners for What’s Next
2026-02-13 12:00 - 13:30

VALRC: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in Practice
2026-02-17 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-03-24 13:00 - 14:00 | Online
UDL in Practice is a 3-part series that introduces adult educators to practical strategies for designing inclusive learning experiences.
Part 1 will focus on the principle of engagement. Part 2 will focus on the principle of representation. Part 3 will focus on the principle of action and expression.

Register here.

Refresher: LACES Data Analysis Session
2026-02-17 14:30 - 15:30, 2026-03-17 14:30 - 15:30 | Online
Join a group of Virginia practitioners for a hands-on experience working with data in the LACES system. This is a refresher session geared towards beginning users and those who would like a refresher with data entry and using LACES.
Register here

TABE Assessment Updates and Questions Answered
2026-02-18 14:00 - 15:00 | Online
This session featuring DRC representative Brian Shedd will provide updates on the TABE 13/14 assessments and address questions submitted by Virginia educators. Please use this form to submit questions in advance of the webinar.
This webinar is Part 2 of the Designing Programs with the New Assessments in Mind virtual PLC. VALRC will facilitate a follow-up session to discuss instructional and program design for the new assessments.
Register here.

NEDP: Assessing Civic Participation and Community Participation
2026-02-18 16:00 - 17:00 | Online
Join NEDP National Trainer Janita McNemar for a one-hour professional development session designed for new and veteran NEDP assessors. Spend time with NEDP colleagues for a consensus discussion on these recently revised competencies.
Target audience: NEDP Program Leaders, Advisors, and Assessors
This session will also be offered on Friday, February 20.
Register here.

NELRC: Teach ABE Reading and Writing with Relevant, Peer-Written Content
2026-02-20 12:00 - 13:00 | Online
Using relevant, peer-written content doesn’t just engage learners, it builds a powerful bridge to more complex reading and writing. When students see their own experiences reflected in the material, they’re more willing to stay with it, even when the text gets harder. That engagement becomes a form of scaffolding, helping them stretch their skills and confidence.
Join this webinar to learn more about The Change Agent, which showcases student-written articles on a wide range of topics (disabilities, digital literacy, transferable skills, immigration, and much more). This content makes a great tool for teaching reading and writing in your ABE class. Virginia adult educators and learners can access The Change Agent online for free using the username VALRC and password VALRC2025 (password is case sensitive!).
Come and learn about this rich source of readings—including many ready-to-use, standards-aligned activities and worksheets. As an added bonus, this workshop coincides with the release of the 2026 Call for Articles. Learn about how you can bring the writing prompts from the Call for Articles to your class and support your students to submit their writing to a national publication. This webinar is hosted by the New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) at World Education.
Register here.

NEDP: Assessing Civic Participation and Community Participation
2026-02-20 13:00 - 14:00 | Online
Join NEDP National Trainer Janita McNemar for a one-hour professional development session designed for new and veteran NEDP assessors. Spend time with NEDP colleagues for a consensus discussion on these recently revised competencies.
Target audience: NEDP Program Leaders, Advisors, and Assessors
This session is also offered on Wednesday, February 18.
Register here.

LACES: Tracking MSGs and Outcomes
2026-02-24 13:30 - 15:00
Join here.

Career Pathways PLC #3: Career Coaching and Supporting Learners for What’s Next
2026-02-27 12:00 - 13:30

VALRC: Structured Literacy that Works: Practical Tools for Multilingual Learners
2026-03-04 13:00 - 14:15 | Virtual
Join this informational webinar to learn how ESL Word Nerds is transforming literacy instruction for English learners through structured literacy intentionally designed for multilingual students. Discover how our carefully crafted scope and sequence supports all four language domains while building vocabulary, grammar, and confidence. Participants will leave with practical, research-based, classroom-tested strategies and highly visual resources ready to use with newcomers and developing learners.
Suzy Sylvester, co-creator of ESL Word Nerds, is a National Board Certified Teacher with a Master of Education from William & Mary, where she serves as Clinical Faculty. With 15 years of experience in special education and ESL—including teaching internationally in Honduras—she specializes in structured literacy for multilingual learners. She is currently the High School Teacher of the Year for Williamsburg-James City County (WJCC) and serves on the VATESOL board.
Register Here

Designing Programs with the New Assessments in Mind, Part 3
2026-03-04 14:00 - 15:00 | Online
Join adult educators from around the state to discuss the impact of new standardized assessments on program design and instruction. Focus will be on implementing CASAS Goals 2 and/or TABE 13/14.
You do not need to have attended earlier professional learning community (PLC) offerings before attending this collaborative session.
Register here.

EdTech Strategy Session
2026-03-13 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Monthly sessions highlighting innovations in edtech and digital learning

On the second Friday of each month, the EdTech Strategy Sessions bring you two lightning talks that highlight practical strategies and innovative approaches to leveraging technology in adult education. After the talks, you are welcome to join a small-group discussion with one of the speakers to exchange ideas, adapt strategies to your context, and plan your next steps.

Career Pathways PLC #4: Career Coaching and Supporting Learners for What’s Next
2026-03-20 12:00 - 13:30
