Family & Community Adult Education Adult & Community Learning Services
Adult and Community Learning Services

SMARTT Updates

By Donna Cornellier
dcornellier@doe.mass.edu
March 9, 2007

1) SMARTT/MAPT Section

Just a reminder that all partial intakes not converted to full intakes by March 9th will be deleted. There are still 86 partials in the system as of March 2nd. Please convert all partial intakes to full intakes or delete partials when no tests were given. If there are any cases where tests were administered under the wrong student ID, please contact one of the regional SABES techs to work with us to get that corrected. We need to finalize this data by March 9th.

2) New Waitlist Remove Feature

We are in the process of replacing the current wait list module with a new module utilizing newer technologies which makes it more consistent with the rest of the SMARTT system, new fields requested by users, and a new search screen. We have released the first screen which is called the "Waitlist Remove" screen. To access this screen click on the "Waitlist" menu option then click on "Remove". The new screen allows for multiple searches and the capability to remove names from the wait list in bulk or one by one. The left side of the screen functions as a search screen. The search criteria box is located at the bottom of the screen. You can type in the letter of a last name to get a list of names to select for removal. Clicking on an individual's name will move it to the right side of the panel. You can continue to search various last names to compile the list to be removed. You may then either enter individual remove dates for each student or check the "Bulk Remove Date" box and enter one date to be used for all remove dates. The system will check to ensure that the "Bulk Remove Date" selected applies to all students i.e. a remove date cannot be before the date a student was waitlisted on. For example, if the remove date entered is before the wait list date, you will get an error message. A scroll bar appears on both sides of the screen so you can scroll through several names at once to make this remove process easier.

The next screen to be released is the "Wait List Search Screen". This screen will replace the current "list" screen. The final screen to be released is the "Add Waitlist" screen which will have tabs similar to the "Add Student" screen.

The current screens are still available while we add the new screens.

3) Enhancement tO Volunteer Match Screen

The Match Attendance Screen has new search capability added at the top of the screen. The default is set to "Current" status and fiscal year "2007". Users may select the following:

• Status (All, Current, Dissolved)
• Fiscal Year (1999 - 2007)

Users can edit current fiscal year data but view only past fiscal year data. Users can edit attendance for exited students in the current fiscal year which is also allowed in class attendance screens.

4) New Professional Development Screen for Staff

The new professional development screen in the staff section was just released which allows users to enter trainings that staff attended other than those provided by SABES. SABES has been entering staff participation in their trainings in SMARTT last fiscal year and this fiscal year. The information which will be entered in the staff professional development screen is similar to what is entered by SABES so that our reporting will display similar information. The topic list allows us to capture more granular information since it is difficult to report on this information by titles entered by users.

The "Search Staff PD" screen provides the search capability for all professional development activities. The search criteria is Location Type of Course (Internet, Off Site, On Site) and the default is for all types of courses. The user needs to click on "Search" at the bottom of the screen to display the requested information.

The "List Current Staff PD" screen lists the same information and no search criteria is required. Both screens display the following information:

• Location Type
• Topic
• Date
• Title
• Hours

You can View, Add, Edit and Delete the staff PD's from either of these screens once you select the professional development activity. The View/Edit tab appears at the top. To remove an activity entered, click on the "Remove Staff PD" link on the left menu. Then check the box at the bottom of the screen that states " Remove Staff PD Information" and hit "Save".

The steps to enter professional development are listed at the end of this mailing and are also listed on the ACLS website under "SMARTT System Information". Once the information is entered, most of the topics are correlated to the Indicators of Program Quality (IPQ) which are also used in monitoring. The Indicators of Program Quality can be found on our ACLS website under ABE Program Management at http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/abeprogram/ipq.pdf or http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/abeprogram/ipq.doc.

The following SMARTT Updates which are scheduled in each region will cover how to enter information in this new screen:

5) Enhancements to Site Assessment Reports

There are separate site assessment reports for BEST Plus, REEP, TABE, and MAPT that display all tests taken in the primary area. Therefore programs can view individual test data for all tests given in the fiscal year. Programs can export these files to Excel and have a report that lists all tests taken for each student for each assessment area. The original purpose of these reports was to indicate which form of the test to administer next. Since BEST Plus and MAPT are computer adaptive, we decided to display all test scores so programs could analyze the data by test in individual reports. The primary assessment report "Gain" column displays the difference between the "best post-test score" and the "pre test score" which was explained in earlier assessment updates.

When exporting the information, select the "CSV" option so that the data is displayed in separate cells for analysis purposes. It is a good idea to save the opened file in "Excel" format for easier retrieval in Excel later.

6) Revision to Follow-up Goal Screen

The follow-up report in SMARTT has been modified to include names of those additional students who require follow-up due to the change in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Please read the policy update sent by Anne Serino explaining this change since we cannot send student data to DOR for data matching unless a consent form has been signed.

If the "Confidentiality Release" box has been checked in the Student Basic Information screen in SMARTT, then the employment data match for that individual will occur. If the "Confidentiality Release" release box is not checked, then the program is responsible for follow-up on those students in addition to those who do not provide a social security number.

The follow-up period for job related goals has been distributed in monthly mailings and will be discussed at SMARTT updates offered in the regions. For example, the timeframe for follow-up for "Enter Employment" is the next quarter after the goal is set. If the goal was set in January, follow-up is due in the next quarter which is April. Similarly, if the goal was set in March, follow-up is due in the next quarter which is April.

As stated in our ABE Guidelines, programs must use perform follow-up on a quarterly basis and enter the data in SMARTT.

7) ABE Program Design Refresher Trainings

The following ABE Program Design Refresher trainings will be held in each region the first week of April. Please register with the SABES office to attend the trainings to understand the changes to the class plan, staff plan, staff salary analysis, and flex, set-aside, foundation sheet. The 4.5% rates increase will be applied for FY08 and will be included in the FY08 program plans. The new rates are as follows:

All program plans will be rolled to FY08 by April 7th. Program Specialists will review current federal plans and contact programs if verification is need for the summer class schedule before these federal plans are moved in FY08.

The training schedule is as follows so call SABES to register or register on-line using the SABES calendar.

8) SMARTT Training Schedule

The updated training schedule is listed below. Please make sure that appropriate staff attend the scheduled upcoming trainings. Notify your SABES regional office as soon as possible with future SMARTT/Cognos training needs so SABES can schedule appropriate trainings. For contact information, see http://www.sabes.org/staff.htm. To register for these and other trainings, please go to http://calendar.sabes.org/ and click on your region or contact the regional offices directly.

We welcome Dan Chisholm to the Regional Technology Team working at SE SABES.