Adult and Community Education (ACE) was established in 1955 with only 108 students and has grown to become one of the largest community education programs in the nation!  We offer lifelong literacy programs and educational opportunities for all residents and students of Fairfax County through creative use of instruction and the implementation of best academic and business practices. Our core mission is to offer community education programming that meets state and local requirements and provides opportunities for better alignment with FCPS’ mission both for lifelong learning and career and development instruction.

We collaborate with regional organizations that promote workforce development and with the Fairfax County Government to ensure that vital, popular, and targeted enrichment classes such as world languages, culinary arts, personal improvement, and lifelong learning are offered.

Adult Education Classes

Our adult education classes include:

• English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
• Apprenticeship and Trade/Industry
• Business and Computer
• Health and Medical
• World Languages
• Adult Driver Permit Testing
• other Adult Enrichment

Classes for K-12 students

Our classes targeted to K-12 students include:

• Driver Education
• Select K-12 enrichment like:
  • STEM
  • study skills
  • test preparation
  • career exploration
  • other programming

What ACE has -- and continues to create -- is unique in the marketplace and way ahead of our competitors, so you’ll be involved in exciting work. In addition to periodic mailings to each Fairfax County resident promoting our classes, we are continuously rolling out new class offerings on our website, promoting them on social media, and coordinating with customers throughout the county to promote and build awareness of our class options…all to make a real difference for our students and the Fairfax County community.

Our classes are held via in-person instruction at many locations throughout the county, on-line instruction, as well as blended instruction where a class has some sessions that are on-line and some sessions that meet in-person.  It totally depends on the nature of the class.

What does a class entail?

That totally depends on the class. Some classes meet once and only once, whereas others can meet multiple times over several weeks or months. Our classes are scheduled around our students’ availability; because of the nature of the people we serve (i.e. primarily adults), this typically means evenings and weekends. There are obviously exceptions to this general idea, but many of classes are structured this way. ACE instructors have the option of teaching as many or as few classes as they want.

In addition, we offer classes that either meet only in-person, or meet only on-line, or are a blended combination of both in-person and on-line. Again, it totally depends on the class.

In many program areas we often have more students wishing to take an ACE class than we have ACE instructors to teach them!  In an average year we have over 600 ACE instructors helping us provide this instruction and are always on the lookout for more instructors so we can offer more opportunities to learn.

All together, we typically offer over 4,000 classes resulting in 20,000 enrollments annually covering a variety of subject areas via a combination of face to face classes at anchor sites throughout Fairfax County and virtual education opportunities.  We know that is a mouth-full!

Are you interested?

Each program has some unique skills that we are looking for in a successful ACE instructor, but some common attributes include:

• Decent communication skills — you won’t need to deliver TED talks, but you’ll need to be able to express yourself.
• Teamwork — we’re not chest-bumpers, but you’ll need to be able to work together with others and receive feedback.
• Subject matter expertise in the area for which you want to teach and desire to share that knowledge – a teacher certification is not necessarily required, but a thorough knowledge of your subject matter is.
• Independent working – we have a team of staff available to support you through the development of marketing efforts to promote the class, registering students, coordinating supplies, and supporting technical set-up and equipment for your class.  You’ll need to be able to get up in front of a class, engage with the students, and help them learn.  To help you with this we also have guides and other resources, so although you will be working independently you will not be alone.

New instructors receive orientation training as well as support as they get started in the program. All instructors can take advantage of ongoing professional development opportunities to expand and enhance their skills. 

The rate of pay for being an ACE instructor is per hour worked and is dependent on the specific requirements for the class taught.  The hourly payrates range from the mid-$20s an hour to mid-$40s an hour.

Benefits

ACE Instructors have access to a variety of benefits as an employee of FCPS:

• FCPS discounts for a variety of computer hardware and software, as well as other purchasing discounts.
• Reduced rates for selected Adult and Community Education classes.
• Membership eligibility to Apple Federal Credit Union.
• For those teaching 30+ hours/week, optional participation in FCPS Health and Dental benefits program.

For more specific requirements please see the section below for the exact program area:

What is the process to apply?

Submit your application to [email protected]. We recommend providing a resume, and ideas about what you would like to teach, including a brief description.  After we receive your application to [email protected], we will review your application and areas of interest and see if there is a match.  If there is, then a manager will reach out to you to discuss your application and may ask you to come into our office for an interview.

Once we all agree about you coming onboard, the next steps vary depending on if you are a current FCPS employee or not.

Current FCPS employees:

Your ACE hiring manager will coordinate with you about specifics.  These will include orienting you to ACE and providing information about what resources we have available to you, how to submit your time, location and other details you will need to be aware of.  For a current FCPS employee, this process can happen fairly quickly.

Not a Current Employee with FCPS:

An online account and current resume are required to finalize your hiring process.  You will receive a link from FCPS HR to create an online account.  Once created, you will need to upload your resume and TWO letters of reference, hand-signed and dated within the last year.  The letters of reference cannot be from family members.  Once submitted, you will be notified by the FCPS HR department via email with detailed instructions about what your next steps will be, including completing a TB test and submitting to a background check.  These are both required for anyone wanting to become an employee of FCPS, even in a part time capacity as an ACE instructor.  Once you complete the onboarding through the FCPS HR department, we will be able to coordinate with you and assign you to specific classes to begin teaching for ACE.  For someone who is not a current FCPS employee, this process can take several weeks to complete.

Are you ready to begin a journey together?