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Adult and Community Learning Services

ACLS Mailing with Summaries

What's in this Mailing?

This monthly mailing for March contains materials that are important to our programs and that will help to serve our current and future students as well. Please review the information and share with your staff.

• REMINDER: Registration for ABE/ESOL Curriculum Conference: Integrated Curriculum Models Get Better Results being held on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at the Best Western Royal Plaza, Marlborough, MA: Please click on the following link to download workshop information and register http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/

• ACE Warning against Online GED Testing :
  Massachusetts GED Office Disclaimer on GED's and the Internet*
  Please be advised that the Massachusetts GED® Credential can be neither earned nor obtained via the Internet or through correspondence programs. The Tests of General Educational Development (GED Tests)--developed by the General Educational Development Testing Service of the American Council on Education (GED Testing Service)-may require extensive preparation and/or the demonstration of a high level of high school knowledge and academic skills. The GED Tests are administered in Massachusetts only at Official GED Testing Centers under the direction of the Massachusetts Department of ESE, GED Office. Any other high school equivalency credential not issued by the Massachusetts Department of ESE or another jurisdictional GED testing authority may be of dubious value and may not be accepted by employers, colleges and universities, or the military.
  *As found on the state GED website at http://www.doe.mass.edu/ged/

• SMARTT Updates   :
  • Latest SMARTT Revision
  • SMARTT Access Levels
  • Next SMARTT New User Training
  • New MAPT Reports in Cognos
  • Cognos Tips
  • ABE Program Design Regional Trainings
  • SMARTT Training Schedule   
  
  
• Curriculum Update:
  • Have questions about writing lesson plans? Check out the new lesson planning resource guide!
  • Coming soon to the Change Agent, March 2008: Democracy in Action
  • Update on the benchmarks from the Reading Strand of the Massachusetts ABE English Language Arts Curriculum Framework
  
  
• Assessment Update:
  • Upcoming required BEST Plus Recertification
  • Upcoming required REEP Recertification
  • TABE Forms 7/8 Information update
  • MAPT login page
  
  
• Workforce Development Updates   :
  • Hot News - ABE-ESOL Subcommittee of the MA Workforce Investment Board
  • Pathways to Success by 21
  • ACLS News - Save the Date. Integrated Curriculum Gets Better Results - April 15, 2008
  • Workforce System News
  • Career Center Events
  • Funding
  • Conferences/Meetings
  • SABES
  • Publications
  • Resources
  • Tips
  
  

• Disability Services Updates:
  Save the Date! for the spring New ADA Coordinator Orientation: April 24, 2008 Pat Anderson, Ph.D., Educational Consultant to the Connecticut Bureau of Special Education and State Transition Coordinator, will be the presenter. See the attached flyer for conference details.

  Conference on Learning Disabilities: The 16th Annual Conference on Serving Youth and Adults with Learning Disabilities will take place on May 1, 2008 in Farmington, CT. Dale S. Brown, author, speaker, activist, and strategic leadership consultant, will be the keynote speaker. For more information: http://www.crec.org/

• Distance Learning Research Project
  A team from UMASS Boston (Donna Haig-Friedman, Ph.D. and Amelia Mallona, Ph. D.) from the Center for Social Policy, McCormack Graduate School at UMASS Boston, has been selected to conduct the distance learning research study. This study will answer fundamental questions regarding the level of metacognition and executive function each enrolled student possesses and what types and levels of support are required to compensate for any that are undeveloped. They are expected to begin their work next month to coincide with the required start-up of the distance learning programs and continue thru the next couple of years.

• Financial Literacy Resources:
  To assist your staff in identifying resources for Financial Literacy, ACLS will post a link to the SABES Financial Literacy Resources page from the ACLS website.

  To help create useful postings, please take a few minutes to complete the on-line survey. Your responses to this survey will be compiled anonymously. http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB227FFHYM7AR

• NAEPDC - News, Views, and Clues