Adult Education and Family Literacy Act Program

Participants are surveyed after all workshops, conference presentations and webinars to evaluate and provide feedback on the activity or event. In regional workshops, changes are made to future workshops based on feedback from participants. Programs review student data to determine if training impacted student outcomes and to determine areas additional training may be needed. The annual training plan includes state priorities, input from surveys about training needs and advice from a statewide professional development advisory committee. Survey results are reviewed with the professional development advisory committee to determine how training is best delivered; face to face or online webinars. Workshops conducted on college and career readiness are formatted for online courses which include a post-test to determine if learning objectives were met. This resource was requested by teachers, many of whom are unable to attend face to face workshops.

Best practices are identified in advisory committees which may result in webinars delivered through IPDAE or presented at an annual conference conducted by state leadership professional development providers. Data from GED® test results are reviewed to determine areas in which students may need additional instruction. Math instruction for GED® preparation and Adult Basic Education courses is a priority for regional trainings and webinars. The IPDAE website provides methods to measure and assess involvement and effectiveness of online modules, webinars and regional workshops through data reports, evaluations and surveys. All workshop and webinar registrations are online.

Once an individual creates an account in the portal, a record is kept of all professional development activities they attend. This record is available by county so administrators can review and make local professional development decisions.

Monitoring

DCAE uses various methods of assessment in its annual and ongoing evaluation process. this includes site monitoring visits, desk monitoring, program improvement processes and performance and financial audits. The results of these processes determine program improvement actions.

DCAE implemented a Quality Assurance System that ensures student performance improvement, financial accountability, program quality and regulatory compliance of local providers in accordance with federal laws and regulations, state statutes and rules and the provisions of an approved grant award.

The monitoring component of the Quality Assurance System is risk-based. Risk assessment is used to evaluate variables associated with workforce education grants and to assign a rating for levels of risk to the FDOE and DCAE associated with each provider. In completing a risk assessment, certain factors are identified which may affect levels of risk for each agency. A risk matrix is completed for each provider.

To determine the monitoring strategy appropriate for each provider, an annual risk assessment is conducted by the quality assurance team. A range of monitoring strategies includes conference calls, improvement plans, desktop self-assessments and grant reviews. More comprehensive strategies such as onsite visits are designated for providers deemed to be at higher risk.

Actions taken to improve quality

If non-compliance findings are identified, a corrective action plan is implemented. Corrective action plans must identify findings and specific strategies the provider will implement to ensure findings are resolved. DCAE conducts annual performance evaluations. The evaluations process is a data-driven accountability system for adult education programs.

All agencies awarded competitive grants are expected to meet at least 90 percent of the State Performance Target or demonstrate improvement for each educational functioning level. An Adult Education Program Improvement Plan (AEPIP) is required if the DCAE determines an eligible recipient failed to meet at least 90 percent of the state performance target or demonstrate improvement for each functioning level from the agency’s previous year completion rates.

An AEPIP is required for each educational functioning level failing to meet required standards and is implemented starting in the second year of funding.

In addition to program improvement plans and other actions taken to improve quality, the following activities are available:

New Director Training

Provides new directors with information such as federal and state guidelines, data collection and NRS reporting and resources needed to administer their programs.

TABE and CASAS Training/Trainers

Through ongoing training, a network of trained professionals ensures the uniform administration and reporting of assessments used for determining federal level gains.

Data Reporting and Program Improvement Training

Provides training on the fundamentals of the NRS. Topics include monitoring, data analysis and collection, types of data and measures, assessments, data quality and related information.

Technical Assistance

Adult education Bi-monthly calls informing adult educators of program changes, reporting announcements and opportunities to ask questions of the DCAE staff. Technical assistance papers are posted on the FDOE website.

Teacher Training

Provides information and resources to support instruction in the areas of GED® preparation, college and career readiness, career awareness and planning, career pathways, reading and math instructional strategies.