Narrative: III. b. 4. C.

Federally Required WIOA Indicators of Performance focus on employment outcomes in the second and fourth quarter after exit, median earnings in the second quarter after exit, credential attainment, and measurable skill gains for job seekers and adult education participants. The State uses an assessment tool based on the guidance of federally required WIOA Measures. All partners and their federally funded programs are measured according to their method of operation in determining the effectiveness of service delivery to job seekers and employers. 

The Louisiana Workforce Commission has monitored all Title I and Title III programs which met or exceeded performance goals, at the State level, for program years (PY) PY 2017 and PY 2018, with the exception of credential attainment rate for Youth. The state will complete PY 2019 and PY 2020 monitoring within the next program year.  The OWD has continued to conduct annual monitoring of programmatic and fiscal management of grants to ensure that funds are being spent in compliance with federal and state laws and regulations. As part of this ongoing annual monitoring, OWD has included a risk management assessment tool for our WIOA formula and discretionary grants under the management of OWD.

Louisiana Rehabilitation Services (Title IV, Vocational Rehabilitation) captured the information below indicating the effectiveness of performance of the WIOA accountability indicators by implementing the following strategies:  specific layouts were created in the AWARE case management system, staff participated in training on these layouts and were explained the relevance for capturing this data, regional reports were generated with regard to compliance or non-compliance, and a collaboration with Workforce Partners to retrieve the necessary data.

During the preceding two-year period, WorkReady U (Title II, Adult Education and Family Literacy) negotiated targets for the Measurable Skill Gains performance indicator and collected baseline data for the remaining performance indicators in the first year. In the second year, WorkReady U (WRU) negotiated targets for all performance indicators. The table below displays the previous assessment results for the last two program years (PY) with complete sets of data.

State agency partners assess the performance outcomes of the workforce system through annual performance reviews. The state agencies responsible for each of the core programs outlined in program-specific areas assess performance accountability measures at the state, regional and local levels as required by each core program. To ensure that program partners are well-positioned to meet the performance accountability requirements of WIOA, LWC will create a WIOA Assessment and Evaluation Working Group on performance accountability with core partners to ensure that systems have the capacity to collect and report required new and updated data elements under WIOA, as well as the capacity to track aggregate data for performance indicators applicable to all four core partners. This working group will also review Customer Satisfaction Surveys from both program participants and employers that can be aggregated and compared across the WIOA partner programs. Results from surveys and recommendations from this working group will allow the State to assess our workforce system as well as gauge our progress toward continuously improving service delivery and increase and enhance the quality of employment outcomes for participants. 

The following charts display Louisiana's actual statewide outcomes for PY19 and PY20, and whether a gain or loss in service provision was met in comparison:  

The chart below displays details regarding participant and exiter levels by programs and costs:

 ADULT EDUCATION AND FAMILY LITERACY TITLE II

The COVID-19 pandemic coupled with several hurricanes and flooding events within the state has caused a negative impact on the state’s performance outcomes. Closures of state and local governmental offices, American Job Centers, program partner’s offices, schools, and businesses drastically limited accessibility to services. Face-to-face interactions were not available and in many instances not allowable due to safety concerns. To mitigate this concern, the state has included in its integrated service delivery increased access to online and virtual services and activities. With this shift in service provision, the state will conduct assessments to determine the success of these added and enhanced service delivery models and implement best practices.    

WorkReady U - Local program services were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, the Measurable Skill Gains performance indicator suffered – most particularly for Louisiana’s English language learner population. Despite these challenges, the majority of WRU’s performance indicators held steady or increased slightly. Based on these results, WRU will continue to develop reports that allow programs to disaggregate performance data at the local level, provide monthly and quarterly data review sessions with all local programs, and track local program progress towards benchmarks. WRU will also continue to use programmatic monitoring efforts to inform statewide strategies for technical assistance and professional development initiatives. 

The State will continue to monitor performance measures and implementation of its strategies to improve targeted performance areas identified through ongoing assessments and provide technical assistance as needed. Through ongoing assessment, the State will check and adjust its measures and activities to align performance improvement with strategy implementation.