October 2003                       The Charboneau Learning Center                            October 2003

                                                              A Program of The Literacy Project

                                                                    277 Main Street, 3rd Floor

                                                                      Greenfield, MA 01302

                                                                           413-774-3935

                                                           www.literacyproject.org/charboneau.html

Board Report                          October 2003                           Total Enrollment: 43                                                      Total Attendee's: 38

              15 days of classes     Class Contact Hours: 735.25     49.0  hours per day    (about 20  learners in classes per day)

Intakes          3                                 By Town                                             By Referral

                                                         Greenfield                   2                        Court/Probation               2

                                                         Montague                   1                        Word of Mouth               1

                                                         Total Intakes:             3                                                           3

Attendance Statistics

More than 12 Hours:   25                       Between 0 and 12 Hours:   13               Enrolled with No Attendance:         5

Enrollment Statistics  (Numbers and categories reflect self-reports of enrolled individuals)

 

Enrollment by Town                             Enrollment by Age                              Enrollment by Referral

  Ashfield                   1                          16.00 -- 17.99             5                       Career Center/DET        1

  Belchertown              1                          18.00 -- 24.99           17                       Counselor                   3

                                                                                                                Court/Probation            6

  Bernardston              1                          25.00 -- 44.99           10

                                                                                                                DSS                          1

  Charelemont              1                          45.00 -- 59.99           10                       FCAC                        1

  Colrain                    1                          60.00 +                    1                       GCC                         2

  Greenfield               29                                                      43                       Honor Court                1

                                                                                                                Leadership Training        1

  Leyden                    1

                                                                                                                Library                       1

  Montague                 7                                                                                Mass Rehab                 3

  Shelburne                 1                                                                                Montague Site              1

                             43                                                                                Teacher  (Public School)  1

                                                                                                                Walk-in                      2

                                                                                                                Welfare                      2

                                                                                                                Word of Mouth           17

                                                                                                                                              43

Enrollment by Native Language              Enrollment by Race                            Enrollment by Gender

  English                   37                          African American        1                        Female                    24

  Spanish                    5                          Asian                       1                        Male                      19

  Thai                        1                          Hispanic or Latino       6                                                    43

                             43                          White                     35

                                                                                      43

Class Activities

  The morning pre GED class used the Renaissance and Reformation to work on writing and study skills.  They also tried to organize facts

   and information about the US Constitution into study concepts.  Simple Geometry concepts were used as a basis for trying to combine

  Writing, thinking and Math skills.  (Most classes started with writing activities - often geared to be advance organizers for the morning

  topic.)

 

  The evening GED class (by popular and insistent demand) focused on Grammar skills: Sentence structure from the GED book) on

  Tuesdays. That same group requested a focus on Social Studies and US history with Louise on Wednesdays while Audrey is taking

  some time off.  On Thursdays Jeanne has been using her years of Math teaching experience to keep people progressing in that subject.

 

  The morning ABE class has been focusing on skills with fractions and decimals.  Reading comprehension skills were developed by readings in Genetics, lots of map reading activities, and current events articles with accompanying crossword puzzles.

Successes

Very Active and Successful Fundraising Month

Charboneau is planning to make fundraising a priority and we have gotten off to a very strong start.  Thanks to Janice and two of

Louise's students (Johnny and Willy) we have sold over 125 raffle tickets so far.

Willy and Johnny also spent two Saturdays selling pumpkins (donated by Mr. Melnik in South Deerfield) from the China Gourmet parking lot

on the Mohawk trail.

These activities also help us raise our community profile

We are also planning many colorful activities for November.

Field Trip to a Renaissance Faire

This was an activity for Joe's class which had been studying the Renaissance and Reformation for the History of Scientific Thinking Unit.

   Five students along with Joe and Amber made the trip to Woodstock Ct.  We had such a good time that we are planning another trip in

the spring - only we want to make this a fundraiser.

Two GED's

Chris and Mike Robbins (both 18) are now GED graduates and are signed up to take technical courses at GCC.

Conflict Resolution Class

Louise used a SABES curriculum resource for a successful activity with the combined morning classes.  The large group then applied

what they had learned to deal with an ongoing conflict.

Challenges

BESTWorks

We now have 5 people enrolled in BestWorks so that is definitely progress.  We are continuing to recruit, cajole, beg, feed etc.

etc. in order to build our numbers up to 12.

There is also more clarity about curriculum.  We have some materials and will be receiving more.  It will be a challenge to

meaningfully integrate some of this type of material into our classes.

Aside from enrollment, the Job Readiness workshops are getting off to a good start (team taught by Joe and Eva) and that has

already lead to some spillover to the GED classes because people really like the Career Interest, Skills, and Values surveys on

the web.  (These activities are accessible through the Franklin Hampshire Youth Website thanks to the Career Center)

We plan to open the Job Readiness workshops to everyone regardless of age.

                                                                                                                               Total minutes:           155.00

 

Professional Development Activities

  10/22/03             Joe                                                                         Massachusetts Budget Crisis: Who Hurts?  Who Pays?            1.50

                         NETWORK 2003  ----   Lots of information for lobbying.

  10/22/03             Joe                                                                                        Working Conditions: Successful Strategies            1.50

                         NETWORK 2003  ----   This was a panel discussion that Hollyn, Joe, and Margaret went to because we won the award.

  10/22/03             Joe                                                                                   Workplace Education: Building the Partnership,            1.50

                         NETWORK 2003  ----   This was about working with employers to teach classes at their worksites.

  10/22/03             Louise                                                                                     Classroom Challenges Engaging Diversity            1.50

                         NETWORK 2003  ----   Introduced whole curriculum including everything from racism to homophobia.  Louise brought back resources from

                         all the sites.

  10/23/03             Joe                                                                            The Massachusetts Workforce Development System            1.50

                         NETWORK 2003  ----   LWIBS, SWIBS, WIA's . . .  and what they mean to us.  We did find out that ABE is supposed to be represented on the

                          local WIA board.

  10/23/03             Joe                                                                                     New England AE to College Transition Project            1.50

                         NETWORK 2003  ----   Presented a very commonsense approach towards structuring  GED classes so that they maximise learning

                         opportunities for learners with college ambitions.

  10/23/03             Louise                                                                                                          GED 2004 Test Updates            1.50

                         NETWORK 2003  ----   Looking at the statistics for the first year. There wasn't a whole lot of difference between the pass rates between this

                         and the old tests.  Pass rates have actually risen 4%.

  10/23/03             Louise                                                                                   GED, MCAS, and Certificates of Attainment.            1.50

                         NETWORK 2003  ----   Compared how the 2 tests are measured against each other.  Also compared certificates of attainment to other

                         alternative diploma programs

  10/27/03             Louise                                                                                                            BestWorks Curriculum            1.00

                         Reviewed materials for Bestworks with the two Voc Tech teachers from Smith Vocational and Franklin Tech. We also went over the syllabus.

 

 

 

Other Service Statistics  (Numbers reflect recorded "interactions" with individuals generally not "yet" in classes)

  By Service Category                                                                                          By Gender

  Seeking Services Inquiry      11                                                                            Female                       16

  Pre-Test Given                   12                                                                            Male                           8

  Intake Appt Made                 1                                                                                                             24

                                         24

  By Town                                                 By Age                                               By Race

  Belchertown                 1                          16.00 -- 17.99                14                      Asian                          1

  Charlemont                 1                          18.00 -- 24.99                5                      Hispanic or Latino         2

  Deerfield                     1

                                                               25.00 -- 44.99                4                      White                         2

   Erving                         1                          45.00 -- 59.99                1                                                       24

  Gill                            1                                                           24

  Greenfield                  16

  Montague                    2

  Shutesbury                  1

                                   24