Materials and Assignments for March

AEFLA REQUIREMENTS AND EVEN START 
http://www.cde.state.co.us/index_adult.htm 
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/AdultEd/index.html

ENROLL FOR MARCH SEGMENT

Requirements, Accountability, Tests and Surveillance = RATS! 

Most of us abhor the process. How can we do what we know works and still report through bureaucratic devices? It's a trick, but together, we can come up with some ideas on how to survive as we prove that the adults we serve deserve the funding. That is the focus of this month's material.

AEFLA (Adult Education and Family Literacy Act) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

"CDE's Center for At-Risk Education (CARE) administers both state and federal programs that provide educational opportunities to Colorado adults and their families: Colorado Refugee English as a Second Language (CRESL), Colorado GED Testing, Colorado Even Start, Colorado Migrant Education Even Start (MEES), and the federally-funded state-administered Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) program."

"Adult education programs provide a range of instructional services that address the basic educational needs of Colorado adults and their families.  These services are funded under Title II of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).  Title II of WIA is the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998 (AEFLA), which is the state-administered federal grant for adult education.  Adult education programs offer opportunities for adults to improve their literacy skills in order to meet their goals and responsibilities as parents, citizens, and workers." (http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeadult/orientationindex.htm)

Local AEFLA programs provide any or all of the following services:

• Adult Basic Education (ABE)
• Adult Secondary Education (ASE) 
• English as a Second Language (ESL)
• English Literacy and Civics Education (EL/Civics)
• Family Literacy
• Workplace Education
• Workforce Education

1. educational gain
2. employment
3. postsecondary education or training
4. receipt of secondary school high or school equivalency diploma

Educational gain is measured for ALL enrolled students. Employment, postsecondary education/training, and secondary school/equivalency gains are measured only for those students who enrolled with one or more of
these goals.

Additional outcome measures required by CDE/CARE are as follows: (Colorado’s State Plan for Adult Education and Family Literacy requires that all programs funded by the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act implement intergenerational activities. Applicants that are not offering Family Literacy services must fulfill this requirement by including intergenerational activities or components)

1. increased involvement in children’s education and 

2. increased involvement in children’s literacy activities. 

Local programs submit statistical and narrative reports annually to the state; the state reports aggregate data annually to the U.S. Dept. of Education.

Operational Requirements in Adult Education

1. evaluation and reporting

2. participation in the peer review process

3. student intake process

4. skills assessment and pre- and post testing of students

5. maintenance and reporting of waiting lists

6. participation in program orientation, professional development and training

7. data reporting through the Adult Education Management Information System (MIS)

8. e-budgeting

9. communication with CDE

Detailed information on post funding requirements is available on the CDE web site and as a document, Post Funding Requirements (Grant Policy Bulletin No. 2).§ View Post Funding Requirements on the CDE Web site: http://www.cde.state.co.us/index_adult.htm § View or download Post Funding Requirements in PDF or Word

Student Intake and Skills Assessment in Adult Education

The intake and skills assessment process provides essential information from which to later evaluate the progress of students. It is the basis for future funding. In a nutshell, you are required to show progress within federally-defined parameters.

The intake process is often mistaken for the "lets-find-the-weaknesses-and-stress them" approach. We tend to focus on "fixing" the gaps" when we want to "strengthen the solids." How would you feel if you dragged yourself into a program and were shown how much you DIDN'T know? Yuck!

The intake process is the first impression, and it often determines how well students learn in a program. In earlier segments, we discussed ways of including the student in determining activities from intake on.  To review...

1. Interview students as a means of helping them clarify real goals. Ask real questions. Don't settle for the expected "I want my GED," or "I want to learn English," or "I want to get a job."

2. Create a relevant and inviting student contract or agreement, and have instructors work with it on a weekly basis. 

3. Design a learning plan that engages the students' intelligences and learning styles, and requires exploring and using outside resources, not to exclude technology!

4. Evaluate, redesign, and re-evaluate in the process.

5. As students progress, evaluate performance as well as knowledge. If the plan works, the knowledge will show in standard testing, n'est pas?

6. Keep records, hopefully through a database system supported by project files.

The secret of relaxed accountability is systematic record-keeping.

Following are sites discussing the required tools to establish levels of competency and progress FOR ABE, ESL AND GED. (Thank you, Debra Fawcett, for giving us these files and keeping me honest!)

Your task is to explore the documents below and help them work for your students instead of the other way around! You work for the student, not for the funding source (whisper).

Assessment Benchmarks for ESL and ABE - PDF file

AEFLA Core Indicators, NRS Core Outcome measures, and Colorado's performance standards for FY03-current year and next year-FY04 -- PDF file   Word File

Colorado Performance Standards - PFD file   Word File

Certificates of Accomplishment (Alternate Assessment in Colorado)
Debra Fawcett

Issued by the Colorado Dept. of Education, Certificates of Accomplishment recognize mastery of skills for adult learners at three levels of ESL and two levels of ABE below the ASE/GED level. 

To receive a certificate the learner must complete an Adult Learner Assessment Notebook, which is then reviewed by CDE. Certificates are awarded upon CDE approval of ALANs.  The competency assessments for the CCA are performance assessments--a form of testing that requires learners to perform a task rather than select an answer from a ready-made list. Sometimes called alternative or authentic assessment, it requires performance of the skill being measured. Performance assessment can be administered by gathering data through systematic observation of students' directly observable behavior.

Placement in a Colorado Certificate of Accomplishment level is determined by standardized testing on the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) and/or the Tests of Adult Basic Education (TABE).  Placement in English as a Second Language is determined by standardized testing on BEST (Basic English Skills Test) Oral and supplemented by CASAS.  Currently, Certificates of Accomplishment may not be used by AEFLA funded programs to show level completion, but may be used to show progress within educational levels. 

To implement performance assessment, the following resources are available:

·    Skills list for Beginning ESL (SPL 0-1)

·    Skills lists for Beginning ABE Literacy (SPL 0-1.9), and Beginning Basic Education (SPL 2-3.9)

·    ESL skills lists and assessments for  the Colorado Certificate of Accomplishment (CCA) at Low Beginning (SPL 2), High Beginning (SPL 3)  and Low Intermediate (SPL 4) EFLs.

·    ABE skills lists and assessments for the CCA at Low Intermediate (SPL 4-5.9) and High Intermediate (SPL 6-8.9) EFLs.

To use the skills lists identified in the first two bullets to document learner progress, programs must develop their own performance assessments.  In addition to measuring progress within level, the skills provide a basis for curriculum development.

Successful completion of some or all of the assessments (including receipt of a CCA) constitutes progress within level.

When performance assessments are used to document progress within level, they should be kept by the program in the learner’s folder for the duration of the program year.

Performances assessments may be administered at any time during the program year.  They provide an ongoing measure and record of learner progress.

More information about performance assessment can be found in The Handbook: a Manual for Adult Education Practitioners.

More information about assessment and reporting policies, see Colorado AEFLA Assessment and Reporting Policy Guidelines (Draft FY03)*. 

*Link to this document on the Definitions, Acronyms, and Links to Resources page at http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeadult/rfp03definitions.htm>.  Scroll down to “Assessment policy”  and click on either the PDF or the Word icon to download the document in the format of your choice.

EVEN START DEFINITIONS AND REQUIREMENTS
http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdecare/evenstart.htm 
http://www.coloradoliteracy.net/

Colorado’s State Plan for Adult Education and Family Literacy requires that all programs funded by the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act implement family literacy or intergenerational activities. Applicants that are not offering family literacy services through Even Start must fulfill this requirement by including intergenerational activities or components.

Even Start and Family Literacy

"The Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative [s] supports efforts to create new strategies to improve and expand family literacy services to economically and educationally disadvantaged families with young children. Each state has established a consortium of representatives from specified programs to work toward systems-level change in support of high quality services." (http://statewide-initiative.rmcres.com/)

Even Start programs in Colorado include four components:

• Adult Education
  Parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency
• Early Childhood Education
  An age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences
• Parenting Support
  Training and support for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher for their children and how to be full partners in the education of their home
• Parent and Child Together
  Interactive literacy activities between parents and their children

REQUIREMENTS FOR FAMILY LITERACY

Family Literacy components must meet two goals:

Goal 1: Program staff will provide high quality, well-integrated services designed to meet the needs of participating families in their community.

Goal 2: The literacy of participating parents will improve.

Performance Measures for Colorado programs are designed to verify compliance with the two goals above.

Additional Information 

Debra Fawcett recommends, "Guidance for the Wm F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy Programs," which puts the requirements of Even Start into fairly plain English; and the MFLC (Massachusetts Family Literacy Consortium)'s "Incorporation of Family Literacy Scale" -  On a scale of 1 to 7, how close is your program to fully incorporating Family Literacy?

Maryland Summary with good info on family literacy and Even Start - PDF file

The Family Reading Plan - Also from Maryland

Family Literacy Forum

Links for Parents

Even Start Sites

ASSIGNMENT (ABE, ESL, GED) 

TO COMMENT ON ASPECTS OF THE ASSIGNMENT, PLEASE (!!!) USE OUR GROUP EMAIL ADDRESS. WE NEED AND WANT YOUR INPUT AND WE'VE MISSED IT!!! adedonline@swadulted.com