Located in:
- III. Operational Planning Elements
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an Operational Planning Elements section that supports the State’s strategy and the system-wide vision described in Section II(c) above. Unless otherwise noted, all Operational Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs. This section must include—
- b. State Operating Systems and Policies
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a description of the State operating systems and policies that will support the implementation of the State strategy described in section II Strategic Elements. This includes—
- b. State Operating Systems and Policies
III. b. 4. D. Evaluation
Describe how the State will conduct evaluations and research projects on activities under WIOA core programs; how such projects will be coordinated with, and designed in conjunction with, State and local boards and with State agencies responsible for the administration of all respective core programs; and, further, how the projects will be coordinated with the evaluations provided for by the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education under WIOA.
Current Narrative:
The Arkansas Workforce Development Board (AWDB) has the responsibility for ensuring public accountability by evaluating the effectiveness of the overall workforce development system. For the federal WIOA performance accountability measures and state measures, each core partner will have a monitoring and corrective action process at the state level that assures identified deficiencies, to the extent they occur, are addressed. This process is intended to be based primarily on data analysis but shall also include monitoring tools at the discretion of the core program. If annual performance targets are not met by any core program, the AWDB may request that the core program submit a corrective action plan.
2021 Workforce System Evaluation
The Arkansas Workforce Development Board commissioned the University of Arkansas' Center for Business and Economic Research at the Walton College of Business to complete a comprehensive WIOA Systems Evaluation, Skills Gap Analysis, and a series of Customer Surveys. This evaluation was completed and presented to the Board in Fall 2021.
The entire evaluation report can be found at: https://www.dws.arkansas.gov/programs/workforce-innovation/
The Arkansas Workforce Development Board will use the recommendations from this evaluation to address the following major areas:
Increase Co-Enrollment: The evaluators recommend that Arkansas Workforce Development Leadership and the Arkansas Workforce Development Board and area managers develop data collection methods to effectively track and monitor rates of co-enrollment.
Partner Programs and Organizations Data Collection: The evaluators recommend that Arkansas Workforce Department Leadership and the Arkansas Workforce Development Board work with all workforce areas to identify and engage additional community partners, and to provide training and assistance to those partners in data collection techniques.
Business Survey Results: The evaluators recommend that additional professional development training programs be established to improve staff/customer relationships. It is further recommended that training and promotional materials specific to web based job postings be developed and implemented.
Customer Survey Results: The evaluators recommend additional training in customer service for all local workforce center staff to improve staff/customer relationships.
General Recommendations: The evaluators recommend that ADWS provide incentives for high performing areas to develop
training modules (in-person and online) which can be shared with less successful centers. The evaluators further recommend Arkansas Workforce Development Leadership and the Arkansas Workforce Development Board establish a system to ensure ongoing supervision and monitoring of the quality improvement process. This system should include regular formative and summative evaluation on a regular basis.