Para-Professional Training in Adult Education at Gila River Indian Community.

Major goals of the Gila River Adult Basic Education Experimental Demonstration Project in this program description are identified as: (1) improving the academic skills of hard-to-reach adult dropouts and (2) training non-degreed local residents (people 19 years old or older with an 8th grade performance level) to recruit, counsel, and teach program participants. Description of the tutors' 6 week pre-service training period details: (1) Program Orientation (project goals); (2) Individual Study Prescriptions (via standardized pre- and post testing); (3) Academic Theory and Practical Application; (4) Recruitment and Reporting Procedures (emphasis on speech and persuasive techniques); and (5) Interaction Analysis (Ned Flanders System). Program implementation is described as involving each tutor 1 day a week in the learning center under direction of a professional teacher-counselor and 1 afternoon a week in an inservice training and staff meeting; wherein, the tutor's daily logs and weekly reports are presented to the professionals. Evaluation procedures are described as both internal (by professionals, para-professionals, and program participants) and external (by an outside, independent evaluator who develops criteria, visits the site, makes progress reports, and evaluates the project at the end of the program year). (JC)