Students & Families Adult Education Adult & Community Learning Services
Adult and Community Learning Services

ABE Program Design Trainings
There is still time to sign up for the four day training for new directors which will be held at the MWCC/Devens Learning Center at One Jackson Place, Devens. Please mail Donna Cornellier (dcornellier@doe.mass.edu) to sign up. The trainings will be held from 9:30 - 3:30 on these dates:

• Friday, March 5th
• Friday, March 19th
• Thursday, April 1st
• Friday, April 16th

This training is for all directors and other staff who may be required to enter program plans into SMARTT (e.g., site coordinators, assistant directors). Such staff must complete this four-day training within their first 12 months of hire. As you know, the application process for both new and continuation ABE funding from ESE requires the applicant to utilize the tools in SMARTT to develop a program plan. The ABE Program Design training is designed to enable participants to develop a fundable plan, using SMARTT, which is consistent with the Guidelines for Effective Adult Basic Education and ESE policy requirements.

ABE Program Design Regional Refresher Trainings
The following dates have been scheduled for the five regional refresher trainings. The refresher trainings will be held from 10:00 - 12:00, and will be followed by open labs scheduled from 1:00 - 3:00 for those who want individualized assistance in preparing program plans for FY2011.

• The two hour ABE Program Design Refresher is designed for both new and experienced directors. Components of the system to be discussed include a review of the ACLS Guidelines that pertain to class design, the SMARTT program plan module, re-funding documents, and recent changes in the NRS Implementation Guidelines. The new standards for reporting race and ethnicity data will be discussed as well as a review of other areas of the NRS Guidelines such as follow-up goals, timeframes for follow -up, data matching, etc. All relevant changes for FY2011 will also be detailed during this presentation.
• The two hour SMARTT Update is designed for Directors and other staff who are attending the morning ABE Program Design Refresher training and are interested in working in an open lab format. Donna Cornellier, Program Specialists, and the SABES regional field technologists will be on hand to offer tips and comments on the individual program designs. This time is meant for hands on work and help for creating the program plan in SMARTT. Ideally, participants will arrive having already reviewed their upcoming program design and will be ready to get tips and answers for obstacles they may have encountered.
• SABES has agreed to handle the registrations for both sessions. The refresher training is provided by ESE/ACLS staff member, Donna Cornellier, and the SABES regional field technologists will offer the updates that are held in the computer labs. SABES staff will be sending out registration information shortly.

Entering Match Classes Which Are Not of the Maintenance Of Effort (MOA)
Some programs have requested the capability to enter additional "match" classes that are not part of their Maintenance of Effort (MOA) so that they can track student progress in SMARTT without needing to enter the information into an additional data system. We are interested in finding out which programs are interested in this option so that we can develop a method that will be easy for programs and also not require additional changes to the current system. One idea is to create a separate project and site to track these students. Students in these classes would be excluded from federal reports and performance standards.

Programs that want to enter these additional "match" classes into SMARTT should e-mail Donna Cornellier at dcornellier@doe.mass.edu, as well as their Program Specialist to discuss various methods as to how this best might be accomplished.

Please note the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirements listed in the Guidelines.
Community Adult Learning Centers are generally funded for five-year cycles. Programs must meet the maintenance of effort requirement.

• Each year, programs must provide a matching share that is equal to 20% of the grant award or equal to the MOE amount, whichever is greater.
• The matching share in year one of the funding cycle must be the greater of the organization's maintenance of effort in the previous cycle or 20% of the new grant award.
• The MOE/matching share committed in year one of a multi-year grant cannot be reduced without the Department's written approval.

Cognos Manual
We are still looking for feedback from users to help us design a Cognos manual. If you have ideas as to the content or format of this manual, please send your ideas to both Helen Jones at hjones@doe.mass.edu and Donna Cornellier at dcornellier@doe.mass.edu, so that we can make this a useful tool for everyone. We have currently hired a practitioner to work with us to write a comprehensive Cognos manual so we are interested in your ideas and feedback as we develop this manual.

• One SMARTT New User training is scheduled on March 23, 2010 at the Holyoke Community College from 9:30 - 3:00.
• Five SMARTT Updates focusing on "Program Design Follow-up are being held in the regions in April and May following the ABE Program Design refreshers offered by ESE staff.
• Two Cognos trainings are being held in the regions in March and April. Note that the on-line version of the Introduction to Cognos training is open to everyone in all regions.
• Check the SABES calendar for dates and times. To register for these and other trainings, please go http:\\calendar.sabes.org and click on your region; or, you may contact your regional office directly.