It's hard to believe 10 years have gone by since over 70 practitioners from the field, staff from Adult and Com- munity Learning Services (ACLS) and the System for Adult Basic Education Support (SABES) began developing curriculum frameworks for Massachusetts. The goal of having curriculum frameworks is the same now as it was then: to provide guidance to ABE programs for developing ABE curricula and instructional materials that are based in sound adult educational theory and rooted in the experience of practitioners and students. All involved, then and now, wanted to ensure that the frameworks' learning standards would be grounded in learner needs and aspirations. After a decade, we are finalizing our ABE frameworks, and we want to update you on that process.

How Did We Get Here?
The frameworks were the first response to a call from both national and state initiatives to improve literacy for adults and children: the National Literacy Act (1991), the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (1993), and the Workforce Investment Act (1998). By 1994, Massachusetts pre-K-12 teachers began work on frameworks for their students. By 1995, however, many ABE practitioners in our state felt that that adopting K-12 curriculum frameworks was not appropriate for adult education. A year later, 15 groups of ABE practitioners convened to answer the question, "What should adult learners know and be able to do as lifelong learners, parents, workers, and community members?" These committees worked in study groups to create the guiding principles and standards, tested them in their classrooms, and evaluated the results. In 1997, writers synthesized the recommendations for each area into a coherent whole.

These drafts became the foundation upon which the field could build consensus. Additional adult educators reviewed and commented on the drafts, and second drafts were redistributed to the field for response. Despite staff turnovers at ACLS, work on the frameworks moved forward; six of the seven frameworks were edited for consistency and format in 2001/2002. Since then, practitioners, ACLS, and SABES staff have continued to move the frameworks forward to finalization.

During this period of development and refinement of the frameworks, ACLS encouraged programs to use the drafts. Between 1997 and 2002, practitioners developed curriculum or aligned their program's curriculum to the frameworks, and ACLS disbursed $3.5 million through professional development grants to support the work. Staff from programs, SABES, and ACLS offered countless workshops at conferences on using the frameworks. Perhaps you've attended the well-received "Curriculum 101" workshop currently offered by the SABES curriculum and assessment coordinators.

Where Are We Now?
All frameworks will be finalized in a similar format, so they can be used together and integrated more easily. Here's a brief update:

The Common Chapters section for the curriculum frameworks has changed little, and is an excellent resource with which to begin your frameworks exploration. This section briefly outlines the rationale behind using frameworks and explores the importance of habits of mind in strengthening lifelong learning skills.

Since the English Language Arts (ELA), Math, and ESOL frameworks (grouped together because of the essential skills they teach) are aligned with many of the primary goals learners have, their learning standards have been made more measurable.

The ELA framework will have six proficiency levels, and the Math and ESOL frameworks each have six proficiency levels, so one can more easily determine when learners make progress. These levels, intended to be useful for both new and experienced teachers, also provide common guidelines for interpreting learners' skill levels for both informal classroom and standardized assessment.

The ELA framework was revised to finalize the standards and decrease the number of proficiency levels. The framework was submitted to the Massachusetts ABE field via the ACLS Web site in May, and some of the feedback was incorporated into the final version.

A committee of eight practitioners (two from each region) began revising the ESOL framework in the fall of 2004, and the final draft is projected to be finished this summer (2005). These practitioners revised the framework by finalizing the strands and standards, adding benchmarks, developing proficiency levels, updating the re- source section, and reorganizing the format.

The Math framework has changed little; a committee of five practitioners, most of whom were the original framework developers are finalizing it, and the final draft is projected to be finished this summer (2005).The History and Social Sciences and the Health frameworks have not changed since the 2001 edits. No specific deadline is available for final versions.

The Science, Technology, and Engineering framework will have new material integrated from the Massachusetts ABE Science team. No specific deadline is available for final versions.

Our goal is to align our curriculum, instruction, and assessment processes. The new ABE tests for Reading and Math were built on the Math and ELA (Reading) standards. If the standards outline what students should know and be able to do, then our goal is to have programs' curricula inform their instruction, and instruction aligned with the new tests. When all three are aligned, then the tests will be better able to capture literacy gains. These tests will replace our use of the TABE in 2006.

What's Left to Do?
The priority of ACLS is to finalize the ELA, Math, and ESOL frameworks. ACLS will ask for the field's feedback on the final drafts of these documents by submitting the drafts on our Web site and requesting that feedback be sent to ACLS. Then the final versions will be sent to Commissioner of Education David Driscoll and the Board of Education for approval. Next in priority is finalizing the Science framework, and then the History and Social Sciences and Health frameworks, which will go through the same process.

Once Finalized, Are the Frameworks "Set in Stone"?
After the Commissioner and Board approve them, our goal is to give programs, staff, and students a chance to use the frameworks for a designated period of time without revision. During this time, ACLS will provide a mechanism for practitioners to give feedback. In the future, ACLS staff, working with practitioners, will consider and use the feedback received to update the frameworks.

As we all know, it is not an easy task to reach consensus or complete standards or frameworks; many states are only now embarking on developing their own learning standards. Most important, the frameworks represent not what ACLS or SABES thinks, but rather the combined skills of over 70 practitioners: what they think is effective practice based on many years of teaching experience. As a frame and a guide to practitioners' and learners' goals for their classroom teaching, the frameworks really can make teachers' and programs' work easier.

Kudos to all the practitioners, education experts, program administrators, business, labor, and community service workers, and adult learners who have helped to bring the frameworks this far over the past ten years.

Find the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks on the MADOE Web site:
www.doe.mass.edu/acls/frameworks

Jane Schwerdtfeger is the curriculum and assessment development specialist at ACLS. She can be reached at janes@doe.mass.edu