Narrative: e. 1.

(E) The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Adult Education Section will use no more than 12.5% of federal funds for the following adult education and literacy activities to develop or enhance the adult education system of the state. The four required activities are included below along with how the state will use leadership funds to carry out activities under section 223 of WIOA.

A. Alignment of adult education and literacy activities with other one-stop required partners to implement the strategies in the Unified or Combined State Plan as described in section 223(1)(a).

A. Since Fall 2015, a WIOA Executive Committee comprised of key core partners that include representatives from Title I, Title II, Title III, and Title IV was created to develop the State Plan and address the needs of employers and the workforce. Some partners include Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, Division for Services for the Blind, and the Division of Workforce Services. Leadership meet regularly as the WIOA Executive Committee where plans are made for meeting the needs of clients and students, as well as completing the recent state plan modifications. Subcommittees on policy, information technology, finance, core measures, sector strategies, and transition also meet to ensure continued progress in these areas. State-level and local core partners statewide meet semi-annually to share progress in various initiatives, highlight collaborative efforts and conduct activities geared toward improving collaboration between the partners. At the local level, an adult education provider serves on the local workforce development board as a representative of other adult providers in the region. In addition, some adult education programs are located within workforce centers or have a satellite program located there, and all of the adult education programs across the state provide services to one-stop participants.

Collaboration between ADWS-AES and Arkansas Rehabilitation Services allows adult education students to receive a diagnosis of disabilities and receive services, if eligible, through Arkansas Rehabilitation Services. Additionally, Arkansas Rehabilitation Services refers participants in need of additional basic and other skills to ADWS-AES for services.

Adult education providers have collaborated with other core partners to offer career pathways opportunities for students. For example, ADWS-AES has worked with Title IV, Arkansas Career Development Center, to provide Servsafe and other certifications for students, especially those who choose to enter the hospitality industry. This is a great example of how a career pathway has been developed for an entry level position to meet a common objective.

Adult education also provides Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) testing for Title I and Title III participants. The Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate involves collaboration between ADWS- AES, the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Arkansas Workforce Centers, the Arkansas Division of Higher Education, the Arkansas Community Colleges, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, and the Arkansas Department of Education, with the Governor signing the official Arkansas CRC certificates. Adult education programs provide basic skills improvement through regular adult education services when test takers fail the CRC twice.

In recent years, this initiative has begun offering the Platinum CRC, which requires higher skill levels to earn, creating an greater need for Adult Education services. The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Adult Education Section will continue its partnership with the Arkansas Community Colleges (ACC) to support Integrated Education and Training programs to adults without a high school diploma. ACC supports the 22 community colleges in Arkansas and supports individuals on their pathway to a better career. In addition, ACC has links to all of the community colleges in Arkansas, which also contains the degree and career pathways offered. Community colleges serve as the fiduciary agency for 22 of the 37 adult education and literacy providers.

Adult education provides support to students who need developmental studies as they enter college, through its transition/bridge program. For example, during the summer Northwest Arkansas Community College adult education program provides a Transition to College course for both adult education students and those recently accepted into college. Adult education provides instruction in basic skills such as reading, math, and English. In addition, providers also integrate financial literacy, digital literacy, employability skills, time management, test taking strategies, and study skills into the course. The class is designed to not only give students’ academic support, but also to provide an overview of what to expect in college once enrolled. Ultimately, the bridge class can help improve the retention and success rate of students.

The Adult Education Section works with the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services as well as the Arkansas Division of Higher Education to match employment and postsecondary data for its students, providing information essential for reporting.

The Division of Workforce Services, Adult Education Section (ADWS-AES) partnered with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) to provide services to Able Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWDs) enrolled in the Employment and Training (E&T) Program of DHS’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Through this partnership, ADWS- AES monitors the progress of ABAWDs referred to the E&T program and provides Adult Basic Education, workplace skills, certification opportunities through the office’s WAGE™ and Integrated and Education Training (IET) programs, to assist the participant in meeting educational and vocational goals. In addition to those referred by DHS, ADWS-AES works to identify and serve current Adult Education students who may also benefit from SNAP E&T services. The partnership currently services 74 of the state’s 75 counties, with the last county being serviced by a Local Education Agency that provides adult education services.

In summary, the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Adult Education Section (ADWS-AES) has worked in close collaboration with its partners to ensure success in implementation of the state plan and thereby, meeting the needs of Arkansans.

2. Establishment or operation of a high-quality professional development programs as described in section 223(1) (a).

2. Arkansas has its own professional development resource center, The Arkansas Adult Learning Resource Center (AALRC). The AALRC is funded through the Southeast Arkansas Education Service Cooperative by the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Adult Education Section (ADWS-AES). It was established in 1990 to provide a source for identification, evaluation, and dissemination of materials and information to adult education/literacy programs. The AALRC is located in Little Rock, Arkansas and has seven full-time employees, which include a Director, Professional Development Coordinator, Information Technology Specialist, Disabilities Project Manager, Media Coordinator, Secretary, and Administrative Assistant. State funds support employee salaries while federal funds are used for the fulfillment of our mission.

Except in specific circumstances approved by ADWS-AES, teachers must hold an Arkansas teacher license in order to teach adult education classes in Arkansas. Teachers must participate in at least 36 hours of professional development annually in order to maintain the license. In addition, Arkansas requires adult education directors, full-time instructors and counselors to be certified in adult education within three years of initial full-time employment. The AALRC supports this effort by providing tuition reimbursement for those completing this requirement. The AALRC supports the Adult Education Section by supporting statewide program administrators’ meetings, numerous committee meetings, publishing a directory of literacy services, and maintaining a website (http://www.aalrc.org).

One of the state's initiatives over the years has been to intensely focus professional development training on teacher instruction. ADWS-AES has adopted the College and Career Readiness (CCR) Standards set forth by the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education. State staff along with teachers and directors from the field examined each CCR standard in order to align materials used in the field. Subject-focused trainings are provided to assist teachers statewide in delivering high quality instruction based on the CCR Standards.

ADWS/AES participated in the first Teaching Skills That Matter pilot in which Arkansas instructors received intense training on integrating the nine skills that matter to adult students using three approaches to be used in five critical topic areas. Instructors who participated in this national training provided training to other teachers in the state through a three-part series, each part focusing on one of the three approaches: integrated and contextualized learning, problem-based learning, and project-based learning.

During the 2017 legislative session, the Arkansas General Assembly passed Act 1063 (the Right to Read Act). Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, all kindergarten through sixth grade teachers and kindergarten through 12th-grade special education teachers must show proficiency in the knowledge and practice of scientific reading instruction (evidence-based practices that teach a student how to learn to read). All other teachers must demonstrate an awareness. In addition to Act 1063, Act 416 of 2017 requires education preparation programs to teach scientific reading instruction. Since adult education teachers are required to have a current Arkansas teacher’s license, they will also have to meet the Department of Education requirements in order to maintain their license. ADWS-AES has participated in the Student Achievement in Reading (STAR) training for local programs to assist in preparing instructors. The AALRC also offers professional development training in other content areas such as math, science, and social studies. Additionally, the AALRC has worked with ADWS-AES and Arkansas Educational Television Network to record professional development trainings on diversity and distance learning to increase instructor access, with plans to produce additional and varied recordings.

The AALRC supports practitioners and trainers through professional development opportunities at state and national conferences. Those include: Arkansas Association for Continuing and Adult Education & Adult Literacy Alliance (AACAE/ALA) Conference, Learning Disabilities Association (LDA), Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) Conference, Hot Springs Institute for Technology, and California State University Northridge (CSUN) Assistive Technology Conference. The AALRC also supports local programs by maintaining a current library of materials, providing research support/information, purchasing/distributing software and materials, and upgrading/redistribution of equipment.

The AALRC uses a variety of methods to ensure that local program directors and staff are aware of professional development activities. An email is sent to program directors explaining each training event, and event information is included on the AALRC website (www.aalrc.org) under the professional development heading. Information regarding training activities is also placed in the AALRC newsletter which is published quarterly. The newsletters are available on the website and mailed to each local program. For those attending training sessions, the AALRC pays travel expenses according to the state travel guidelines for those participants paid with adult education funds.

The AALRC uses a system called ESC Works to track activities and participants. Educators in the State of Arkansas must register for and track professional development events with this online system. Participants are able to manage their own transcripts in the system to add professional development attended outside of the AALRC (i.e. state conference, national conference).

In order to assess the quality of its professional development programs, the AALRC uses the AALRC Universal Survey Form. Evaluations are aggregated and evaluated to determine quality of training and adjustments are made according to the results in order to improve effectiveness of the professional development program and the impact on student learning outcomes.

To support local programs and instructors, a combination of methods are used to assess the effectiveness of professional development training. Classroom observations, student educational gains of teacher participants, focus groups, and overall self-reporting tools are used to determine professional development effectiveness. Data from the adult education  information system are utilized to evaluate and determine if and how the professional development activities impact student learning outcomes.

3. Provision of technical assistance to funded eligible providers as described in section 223(1)(c) .

The Adult Education Section will continue to offer technical assistance to eligible providers. Many program directors have registered with the Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS), which offers a plethora of resources, professional development, and an opportunity to connect with other practitioners. During administrators’ meetings and through the professional development resource center, AALRC, trainings by experts in the field of English as a Second Language, Learning Disabilities, Math, Literacy, Distance Education, and much more continue to be offered. These offerings have become even more important during times when onsite trainings were limited due to the pandemic.

Mandatory Administrators' Meetings are held semi-annually during which policies and procedures are discussed and information is disseminated. During the administrators’ meetings, providers also share best practices with one another as well as gain additional professional development training from staff or guest speakers. Additionally, state-level partners share pertinent information with local directors to assist with local collaboration. For safety reasons, the most recent meetings were held virtually.

The Adult Education Section staff provides technical training on the state’s data management system (LACES). LACES- Data Entry covers the basics of entering student information, creating classes, enrolling students in classes, entering assessments, entering attendance hours, and other basic data entry topics. LACES 101 highlights the link between data and program performance and funding, running federal tables, ensuring quality data, basic data searches and reports. LACES for Directors focuses on data dives to analyze student enrollment and performance, program and class level data analysis and creating data driven queries. LACES for Instructors focuses on how instructors, specifically, can use data to track student progress as they implement instructional methods and curriculum.

Training for new local program directors is provided through a one-on-one session within a month of hire, and an annual New Administrators’ Meeting. The purpose of these trainings is to familiarize new program leadership of the responsibilities of their role, and the federal and state laws and policies that guide the services provided and the methods available to programs to meet the needs of participants.

ADWS-AES provides over ten data management information systems trainings per year regionally, as well as during administrators’ meetings and conferences. ADWS-AES also offers webinars and teleconference training to providers. All providers participate in at least two data management information systems trainings per year. Technical support is available for LACES via email or telephone and by request, face-to-face, and weekly LACES office hours are provided via Zoom.

2020-21 Development of specific topics in the use of LACES continue and are provided at a distance to improve access. The AALRC provides technical assistance through email and telephone contact as well as face-to-face meetings with providers. The AALRC IT Specialist provides software and hardware support to all programs .

4. Monitoring and evaluation of the quality and improvement of adult education activities as described in section 223 (1)(d).

Adult education state staff evaluates providers quarterly through the review of each program’s quarterly report submission. In it, providers review and report progress on average attendance hours, educational functioning level (EFL) gains, number and percentage of students post-tested, changes in major demographics, GED rates, etc. Quarterly reports also allow providers to review operational aspects of the program such as the percentage of funds expended, completion of required professional development, and completed personnel activity reports. Quarterly report reviews and technical assistance calls between state staff and programs evaluate and monitor the success and performance regularly.

ADWS-AES also performs an annual site visit for each adult education and literacy provider to ensure that state and federal laws and policies are followed, to review program performance, and to connect with Local Education Agency Administrators. Based upon the findings during the site visit, regional program advisors provide technical assistance to program directors and staff to ensure continuous improvement.

Additionally, each year 25% of the current 37 adult education and literacy providers receive a program review, which is a three-day intensive program monitoring and technical site visit by a team of program advisors in the state office. Each provider can expect to have a program review every four years provided there are no major risks or violations identified during an annual site visit, which would increase review frequency. Providers are assessed in areas including, but not limited to, Program Management and Reporting, Financials, Technology, and Collaboration. This program review process allows program advisors and the State Disabilities Project Manager to thoroughly assess program operations, observe classroom instruction, and review state and federal laws and policies. Once each program is reviewed, ADWS-AES requests a full financial audit review by the state agency's finance department.

ADWS-AES evaluates each program annually through an E&E (Effective and Efficient) calculation, currently based upon the programs’ progress on the federally negotiated benchmarks in Table 4. Programs that do not meet the determined percentage of the benchmarks are provided additional technical assistance in order to prepare a performance improvement plan. Plan implementation is monitored throughout the year. Upon not meeting the requirements of E&E for three consecutive years, ADWS-AES makes a recommendation to the Arkansas Workforce Development Board as to whether or not the program should continue to be funded.

Lastly, mandatory Administrators' Meetings are held twice a year in which policies and procedures are discussed and information is disseminated. During the administrators’ meeting, providers share best practices with one another as well as gain additional professional development training from staff or guest speakers.