Located in:
- Program-specific Requirements for Adult Education and Family Literacy Act Programs
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a description of the following as it pertains to adult education and literacy programs and activities under title II of WIOA, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA).
f. Assessing Quality
Current Narrative:
(f) The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Adult Education Section monitors programs quarterly through a desk audit process in which measures such as average attendance hours, educational functioning level (EFL) gains across demographic groups, number of students post-tested, etc. are reported and reviewed. The desk audits also allow programs to review operational aspects of the program such as the percentage of funds expended, completion of required professional development, and completed personnel activity reports.
Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Adult Education Section also performs an annual site visit for each adult education and literacy program 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, approximately every four years, a team of program advisors conducts an intensive program review through which Division staff assesses each program in the following areas:
1. Program Management and Reporting
2. Financials
3. Advisory Committees
4. Personnel and Professional Development
5. Student Intake, Documentation, and Orientation
6. Program Policies
7. Instruction
8. Teaching/Classroom Observation
9. Technology
10. Recruitment/Retention
11. Collaboration
12. Facilities
13. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The 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. Each program review is accompanied by a full financial review by the state agency's finance department.
Once each program is reviewed, the program receives a report which indicates all findings, recommendations, and commendations. The program then develops and submits a Corrective Action Plan (CAP), if applicable, which details how each finding will be remedied. The program director and program advisor work together to ensure that each finding is corrected, at which time the program and Local Education Agency are notified.
The state office requires adult education directors to attend a State Administrators’ meeting twice a year. During this time, state staff review policies and procedures, state performance, answer questions, and give providers an opportunity to share best practices.
Evaluating Professional Development
In addition to the technical assistance provided through the evaluation processes, The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Adult Education Section provides varied professional development through the efforts of the Arkansas Adult Learning Resource Center (AALRC). Through the AALRC, program directors, faculty and staff have access to training in educational technology, student assessments, and assisting students with disabilities along with many other topics. The AALRC uses a state-wide assessment of professional development needs of educators to plan professional development for the field in order to improve instructional and programmatic practices.
The establishment or operation of professional development programs to improve the quality of instruction pursuant to local activities will continue to be a top priority for the state in order to increase the success of student outcomes. Training will continue for local adult education/literacy providers on the use of resources available electronically, for accessing curricula and for sharing locally produced curricula with other providers. In addition, a stronger emphasis will be placed on ensuring that materials and training will incorporate the research-based components of phonemic awareness, system phonics, fluency, and reading comprehension.
In order to promote continuous improvement of professional development activities and the impact on student learning outcomes, The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, Adult Education Section through the AALRC will include ongoing and systematic needs assessment and evaluation processes to not only provide information about the impact of professional development, but to provide data for refining and adjusting professional development activities.
1. Participant evaluations/surveys will be collected for all professional development activities. These evaluations will reflect the response of participants to the objectives, material, presentation and the trainer providers.
2. Evaluations/surveys will be aggregated and evaluated to determine quality of training and adjustments will be made according to the results. These results will be analyzed for areas in need of improvement and changes will be made accordingly.
To support local programs and instructors, a combination of methods is used to assess the effectiveness of professional development training. Classroom observations, student educational gains of teacher participants, focus groups, and overall self-reporting tools is utilized to determine professional development effectiveness. Data from the adult education management information system is utilized to evaluate and determine if the professional development activities impact student learning outcomes. This is an area that the state continues to revisit and make modifications as needed.
The AALRC currently uses Guskey’s model for the Five Critical Levels of Professional Development Evaluation. The data from the evaluations is used to analyze the effectiveness of the professional development program and the impact on student learning outcomes.