Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS)

Professional Development Update - July, 2011

ABE FY2012 Professional Development Grants and Contract Awarded As a result of the recent competitive RFP and RFR that ACLS released for the System for Adult Basic Education Support (SABES), grants were awarded to program and staff development Regional Support Centers (RSCs) in the following regions: Bristol Community College - Southeast
Holyoke Community College - West
Northern Essex Community College - Northeast
Quinsigamond Community College - Central
University of Massachusetts Boston - Greater Boston In addition, a contract for a Central Resource Center to coordinate, support, and evaluate the system's work was awarded to World Education, Inc. In FY 2012, each of five regional professional development support centers will receive a total of $350,000; and the center for system coordination will be funded in the amount of $498,580. Both regional center grants and the system coordination contract will be renewable for up to an additional two years, contingent on performance and allocation of state and federal funds. ACLS is pleased to continue work with experienced colleagues in program and staff development. New Directions in Professional Development Program and staff development will be delivered in new formats beginning FY2012 in order to meet goals in the Massachusetts Strategic Framework for ABE. Two of the goals are to increase system effectiveness and quality and prepare students for success in the next steps in college and further training, at work and in the community. Accordingly, ACLS has set the following priorities for the SABES system:

Deliver intensive training to ABE/ESOL teachers in content areas that adult learners need to become college and career ready: i.e. mathematics and numeracy, ESOL, and reading/writing.
Strengthen educational leadership, student advising and other program support needed for effective ABE/ESOL instruction.
Provide ongoing training to orient new practitioners to the ABE field and to their specific job roles, as well as help teachers meet state's Professional Standards for Adult Basic Education Teachers
Provide customized, site-based technical assistance to help programs improve performance, as needed.

Each RSC will now assume statewide responsibility for a specific content specialty. This reorganization of SABES resources is due in part to requests from program directors, teachers and other practitioners for more assistance from Content Specialists. The content specialty regions will be: a) Mathematics and Numeracy - West; b) ESOL -Central and Northeast; c) Reading - Southeast; and d) Writing - Greater Boston. SABES will be offering fewer, more in-depth professional development activities than in the past to meet these priorities. For example, teachers who seek to acquire and master content knowledge will need more sustained instruction and follow-up assistance than is typical in most training. In the months ahead, ESE will provide more details on the progress and results of these initiatives. Questions? Feel free to contact Sharon Artis-Jackson: sartisjackson@doe.mass.edu.

Last Updated: July 27, 2011