Narrative: f.

The Colorado Department of Education Office of Adult Education Initiatives (AEI) will assess the quality of sub-grant recipients through ongoing grantee monitoring and oversight. AEI will conduct risk assessment, data validation and desk, virtual and on-site monitoring as needed and in accordance with materials approved by the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education. Quality will be evaluated through program visits, performance reports, and on-site program monitoring. Additionally, the grantees’ ability to meet the federally negotiated performance targets will be reviewed. Grantees must provide data from all enrolled adult learners,  progress measures attained by all learners that have attended at least 12 hours of instruction. Documented progress of student performance measures must include at a minimum: 

• Educational functioning level improvements in reading, writing, and speaking the English language, problem solving, numeracy, and other literacy skills 
• Placement in, retention in, or transition into postsecondary education, training, unsubsidized employment, or career advancement 
• Attainment of a secondary school diploma or its equivalent. 
• Employment and wages
• Postsecondary credential attainment

All programs are required to maintain individual student records that include the data required by the statewide information system. Additionally, all sub-grant recipients are responsible for maintaining the privacy of the data for learners of all ages who participate in their programs. The AEI team evaluates the overall viability of all sub-grant recipients - both from fiscal and programmatic perspectives. The AEI team will compare trends in data and determine necessary technical assistance and next steps. The AEI team will also develop assistance plans for programs struggling to meet goals and objectives, and those plans will be used for service and support to providers. If a sub-grant recipient fails to meet performance goals or other programmatic requirements, the AEI office will take actions to assist the program in improving the quality of the program, which may include performance improvement plans and corrective plans. 

AEI will assess the quality of professional development activities by ensuring that technical assistance and professional development focuses on the required and permissible activities under WIOA Section 223 (a). AEI will also assess the quality of professional development by providing opportunity for feedback, using surveys from the field after professional development opportunities. And AEI collects interest data and input on professional learning needs in the field from grantee staff through a statewide professional learning survey.

AEI includes a Professional Learning Assurance as part of the  application and continuation process to ensure that the requirements outlined in WIOA Section 223(a)(1)(B) of “the establishment or operation of high-quality professional development programs” is also part of local grantee practice. This assurance includes training for local grantee leadership and instructors within AEFLA-funded programs and requires each grantee to annually develop individualized professional learning plans for each instructional staff member and a program-wide professional learning plan which identifies program-wide goals and professional learning activities. Each grantee must also identify a  local Professional Learning Coordinator to function as a primary point of contact around professional learning activities and to monitor implementation of the local professional learning plan, to support local staff in the execution of their individual professional learning plan, and to participate in required professional learning activities from the AEI Office. 

Annually, the AEI Professional Learning Coordinator and supporting AEI Office staff review grantee performance data, local professional learning plans submitted in grant applications, customer satisfaction survey data, prior year professional learning event evaluations, and the results of the statewide professional learning survey to design an annual plan of statewide professional learning events and initiatives. This plan typically includes the following but varies by year depending on the results of the previously mentioned data sources. Professional learning initiatives are delivered by AEI and contracted staff:

• Annual kick off webinar trainings
• Training series targeting needs of instructional staff in around implementation of best practices in Mathematics, Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Language Acquisition
• Training series targeting needs of administrative staff around data analysis and monitoring, program design, instructor observation & support, providing supportive/wrap-around services & learner persistence, collaborating with WIOA partners, and implementing local professional learning plans
• IET training series
• Accessible Design training series
• Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Training Series,
• LACES Data System annual trainings and quarterly Data Talks
• AEI Office Hours informational webinars
• Adult Basic Education Authorization (ABEA) free online courses
• Various regional and statewide in-person training events (in collaboration with professional organizations within the state)
• Annual data close out training series
• Asynchronous Moodle Courses addressing: programmatic accessibility, distance education, Data Assurances, Assessment Assurances, learner follow up survey, IELCE, IET, WIOA performance data, NRS Table 4, NRS Table 5, and remote worker certification

Additionally, between 2022 and 2025, AEI has and will be contracting with staff at the Center for Assessment, Design, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) at the University of Colorado Boulder to conduct additional adult education literature reviews, multi-year data analyses, and to collect qualitative data through local program site visits, observations, and interviews focusing on professional learning at the local and state levels with the goal of better identifying effective professional learning strategies for grantees in Colorado and how to reduce barriers to participation in professional learning for part-time grantee staff who make up the majority of instructional staff across the state. The results of this project will be used to inform longer-term professional learning planning for Colorado including potential reorganization of the project.

For individual grantees where persistent performance concerns are present or where compliance issues are identified through monitoring, the AEI Office works individually with staff at that program to design performance improvement plans to address issues identified. These plans are designed collaboratively between AEI Office and local program staff, with the grantee’s assigned Adult Education Program Coordinator from the AEI Office taking the lead on monitoring the progress of the plan. Performance improvement plans typically involve re-training and targeted planning around required program assurances and monitoring of compliance with assurances. For issues around meeting performance targets specifically, plans typically include more frequent data monitoring and required, more frequent analysis of NRS data. Performance improvement planning around compliance and performance targets also typically include professional learning around required activities and performance targets and may include additional site-specific professional development activities around topics identified as areas for improvement at individual sites or classrooms.

The AEI Professional Learning Coordinator runs point on implementation of AEI’s annual professional learning plan and long-term vision for the professional learning project. The AEI Program Manager runs point on risk assessment and targeted technical assistance to individual grantees delivered via AEI Program Coordinators assigned to each grantee. The AEI Data Manager runs point on performance data evaluation and coordinates with the AEI Professional Learning Coordinator and AEI Program Manager to implement both statewide professional learning and the implementation of targeted performance improvement plans.