The Charboneau Learning Center

                                                                          A Program of The Literacy Project

                                                                                       15 Bank Row, Suite D

                                                                                      Greenfield, MA 01302

                                                                                            413-774-3935

                                                                        www.literacyproject.org/charboneau.html

                                                                                    June 2006

Successes/Highlights

One GED

Angel Pease passed on her second try.  Angel is a very young women with a lot energy and writing ability. Right now

she is considering her options.

    and . . .

  Achievements by Learners

   15  learners Completed Essay/Significant writing project

     1  learner Contributed labor to make the learning environment safer/cleaner

     1  learner Got a job

     3  learners Got a library card

     2  learners Increased Civic Participation

     1  learner Learned About Drug/Alcohol Dependence

     1  learner Learned about HIV/AIDS

     1  learner Obtained Stable Housing

     3  learners Opened a checking/savings account

     1  learner Passed GED

     3  learners Read a book

     1  learner Registered to vote

     2  learners Voted municipal/state/federal election

Class Activities

  This has been the first summer of our new high-stakes attendance policy.  It's one thing to

  suspend people when attendance and inquiries are high.  It's quite another when times are

  lean, as they often are during the summer months.  We briefly questioned whether we could or

   should stick to our own policy, but the answer came fairly automatically.  We actually sent out

  six suspension letters, but four of the recipients continued on with two week probation.

 

  Louise's Morning ABE Class studied everything from Women's Rights to Genetics to viruses

  and bacteria.  What connected them was an emphasis on graphic organizers (Punnet Squares,

  Venn Diagrams, color coded maps, etc.)

 

  Joe's Morning pre-GED class also used graphs to study the business cycle and the US rise to

  the leading global manufacturer between 1870 and 1913. They also started color coding a

  Timeline of the Industrial Revolution based on a series of organizing themes/writing topics. 

  The Industrial Revolution is a theme that easily lends itself to lots of Math integration and they

   spent a lot of time with percents along with graphs and tables.  For Science they spent a few

  days grappling with the Laws of Thermodynamics and how they developed through concerted

  efforts to increase the efficiency of steam engines.  (If anybody in this class ever finds a way to   disprove the Second Law and makes trillions of dollars by creating a perpetual motion

  machine, they have been invited to consider The Literacy Project as one of their minor

  philanthropic beneficiaries. In the meantime we are struggling against Entropy by instituting a

  Math requirement in the GED level classes.)

 

  The Afternoon (non rates based) GED class has had low, but steady attendance.  They

  demanded that we do some of the History that the morning class has been doing, and actually

  got a head start studying the Triangle Fire.  They allowed me to road test some new curriculum

   materials and made some worthwhile suggestions for improvements.   All three of them also

  finished essays on the Triangle Fire.  One young woman did a poster related to this tragedy,

  and after reading a moving first-hand account that she found on the internet, she requested

  an entire book on the subject.

 

  Louise has been doing some Group Activities in both History and Math with the Evening GED

  Class while Joe has been keeping the focus on Individualized Writing and Math.

Additional Information:

         17 days of classes       Class Contact Hours:   787.00      46.2  hours per day       (about     19  learners in classes per day)

   Inquiries and Others Served:          21                                                        Learners with 24 or more hours:   14

                   We are very surprised that the number of inquiries from young males continues to be so large.  Still, this is partially a

                   result of the fact that our biggest source of referrals is "word of mouth"  ( or "who you have is who you get"). 

                   It is also interesting in that colleges (including GCC are looking for ways to increase their recruitment of males

                   whose enrollment numbers have been declining relative to that of females).

 

 

 

 

 

ATTENDANCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12+ hours

 

25

81%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2-11 hours

 

4

13%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<2 hours

 

2

6%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

31

 

 

 

 

 

ETHNICITY

Intakes

Enrolled

 

 

 

 

 

REFERRALS

Intakes

Enrolled

 

AmerInd/Alaskan

0

0

0%

 

 

 

 

Career Center

1

2

6%

Asian

0

1

3%

 

 

 

 

Community College

0

4

13%

Black

2

1

3%

 

 

 

 

Employer

0

1

3%

Cape Verdean

0

0

0%

 

 

 

 

Flyers/Publicity

0

2

6%

Haitian

0

1

3%

 

 

 

 

Library

0

1

3%

Hawaiian/PI

0

0

0%

 

 

 

 

Court/Probation

0

2

6%

Hispanic

0

4

13%

 

 

 

 

Public School

0

2

6%

IndianSub

0

0

0%

 

 

 

 

Social Agency/Gov't Org

3

8

26%

White

2

24

77%

 

 

 

 

Word of Mouth

0

8

26%

Other/Not Given

0

0

0%

 

 

 

 

Other

0

1

3%

 

4

31

 

 

 

 

 

 

4

31

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AGE

Intakes

Enrolled