Marcia Phillips

Office: Suite 669, 3600 Center
Phone: (804) 828-6521
Fax: (804) 828-7539
Email Marcia

Like many of us in the field of adult education, I was once a high school teacher who moved into corporate training and development. As I continued to work with businesses in developing their human resources, I became involved with the key role of workplace education in businesses undergoing change. My experiences led me first to the READ Center in Richmond, which at that time had a very interesting workplace education program centering on the need for frontline employees to be able to think critically, solve problems, work together, and read with understanding. As a consultant with the Institute for Workforce Development at J. Sargent Reynolds Community College, I continued to work with clients who wished to develop an employee pool with a wide range of skill levels and educational attainment. The evolution of work creates an on-going challenge for all employees, none more so than the under-educated adult.

When GED as Project began, I was interested because the team designing it was essentially the same group with whom I had been involved early on at the READ Center. My original involvement began with editing the first phase, and continued through coordinating the second phase and culminated in developing the final phase. While I have always loved instructional design, my greatest pleasure during these years was in observing classes where students actively involved themselves in critical thinking, teamwork, and problem solving.

Last year I revisited the reading volume, updating the basic instructional, test-based inquiry activities with the significant reading research analyzed by Susan McShane and William Muth. Currently, I am coordinating the enormous project of the Resource Center in developing and implementing the Virginia Adult Educator Certification Program.