Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS)

New Data Management System — Literacy Pro Systems (LPS)

July 5, 2018

Dear Program Directors.

ACLS is pleased to announce that Literacy Pro Systems (LPS) has been awarded a contract to implement and maintain a new data management system, LACES, for Massachusetts.

From the Literacy Pro System website: The mission of LiteracyPro Systems is: "To be a powerful force of good in the world by creating revolutionary tools for those serving humanity." This mission informs and inspires the work we do every day. Our values foster a deep sense of responsibility to everyone we serve. Our strong code of ethics is at the root of our obsession over privacy and data integrity. Our platform has evolved and improved throughout the years by working directly with our clients to ensure that the systems they employ are intuitive and effective in tracking and monitoring unlimited amounts of program data.

LACES (Literacy, Adult & Community Education System) is the online student data management system designed specifically for providers of adult and community education. LACES allows users to easily enroll students, track attendance, set baselines, seamlessly monitor program progress and student goals, provide dynamic searches, drilldown functionality, and delivers high-quality results and streamline data reporting to state and federal agencies with ease. LACES is currently deployed on a statewide basis by 19 state department of education and corrections.

In July and August, ACLS and LPS will work together to prepare LACES for an early October launch. Much of the time will be spent mapping and migrating SMARTT data into LACES. In addition, we will validate the functionality with test data and actual Massachusetts data to ensure that LACES is ready for users in time for the training.

LPS will provide an in-person two-part training at a site to be determined. Part 1 of the training will focus on how to get data into the system and will be delivered by the end of September. Part 2 will focus on how to get data out of the system and will take place later in the year. Two people from each program will be trained, one of whom will be designated "trainer" for the rest of the staff at their program. For these trainers, there will be an additional in-person "train the trainer" session.

Thank you for your understanding as our transition to this new system calls for temporary measures as described in the June special mailing, "FY19 Rollover and Summer Data Entry." Please note that the instructions for Program Plan Rollover have been amended slightly. Your careful reading and execution of these temporary measures will help get us off to a strong start with LACES.

Stay tuned for more information about training and our plan to share best practices for using LACES from other states. In addition, ACLS will provide guidance about September data entry as soon as we determine a more precise LACES launch data.

Sincerely,

Jolanta Conway
MA AE State Director