[NLA] breaking news

[Thomas Sticht]

Following is the slightly revised Research Note provided to Report on
Literacy Programs that Dave Speights posted a story about on June 5th on
the NLA list. The revised note adds Wyoming to the list of states that
met or surpassed all seven average national indicators of learning
achievement, so there are ten, not nine states on this list. The error
of omission was mine, not RLP's. 
Tom Sticht   



(Revised) Research Note           May 29, 2002
Tom Sticht

2000: Brave New Century of Accountability 
for the Adult Education and Literacy System of the United States

Just recently the U. S. Department of Education released the first
report on the use of the National Reporting System (NRS) to obtain
performance data from the states about the Adult Education and Literacy
System (AELS) of the United States. Called, "Adult Education and Family
Literacy Act, Report to Congress on State Performance, Program Year
1999-2000", the report states that it is available on the Education
Department’s Web site at: www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE.

The report carefully calls attention to the differences among the fifty
states in definition of terms used in the reporting system, and cautions
readers not to compare states to one another. Yet, it also presents
national data along side state data in several instances and that
directly invites comparisons of states to national averages. The brief
report that follows uses the national average data provided in the
report, and some calculated by myself, to examine the first year of data
from the NRS as it moves the Adult Education and Literacy System of the
United States into the 21st century of accountability.  

Adverse Impact Against Minorities

The report indicates that enrollments in the AELS was 2,891,895 in FY
1999 (Program Year 1999-2000). This is a drop of 1,128,655 from the
4,020,550 enrolments in PY 1997-1998. Of this total drop, California
accounted for 979,716 or about 87 percent of the drop. Not surprisingly
then, given California’s large population of Hispanics, Asians and
Pacific Islanders, examination of the change in learner characteristics
in PY 97-98 and PY 99-00 indicates that of the 1,128,655 drop in
enrollments, Hispanics dropped by 634,378, or some 56 percent of the
total decline of 1,128,655 from PY 97-98 to PY 99-00. Asian or Pacific
Islanders dropped by 23.5 percent, Whites by 16.5 percent and Blacks by
4 percent. Clearly, with Hispanics, Blacks, and Asian/Pacific Islanders
making up over 80 percent of the loss in enrollments, the enactment of
the Adult Education and Family Literacy (AEFLA) Act of 1998 performance
accountability requirements, and their implementation in the NRS, has
had an adverse impact upon minority groups served by the AELS. 

Huge State Differences in Funds Per Enrollee

The report states that FY funding for PY 99-00 was $365 million. This
comes to about $126.21 per AELS enrollee across the U. S. But on a state
by state basis, the funds per enrollee fluctuate wildly, from a high of
$509.45 in North Dakota, to a low of $46.48 in South Carolina. In 12
states the per enrollee funding was less than $100. In 18 it was over
$200, and in four it was over $300. The report does not address the
large differences across the states in per enrollee funding. 

Performance Indicators for Learning

The AEFLA calls for states to report on "Demonstrated improvements in
the literacy skill levels in reading, writing and speaking English,
numeracy, problem-solving, English language acquisition, and other
literacy skills." In the present report, states provided data on how
well they met their stated  goals for improvement in literacy skills for
seven performance levels. For instance,– Demonstrated Improvement in
Literacy Skills includes seven Sub Measures, the first of which is: 
"The percentage of adults enrolled at the Beginning Literacy level who
acquired the basic skills (validated by standardized assessment) needed
to complete that level (1999-2000)." In preparing the report, the
Department determined the national average of the state provided goals
for achievement and the national average for actual achievement of
goals.  This makes it possible to determine how many states performed
below, at, or above the national average for seven levels of
improvements in literacy skills. 

Of the fifty states plus the District of Columbia, 10 performed at or
above all seven national average literacy achievement levels (Georgia,
Kentucky, Maryland, N. Carolina, N. Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, 
Utah, and Wyoming). Fourteen states performed below all seven literacy
achievement levels (Alabama, California, Florida, Iowa, Kansas,
Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, S.
Carolina, Texas, Washington). Overall, there was no significant
correlation (r = -0.036) between per enrollee funds and performance on
the seven literacy achievement levels. 

Impacts of Reforms on Achievement of Literacy Goals

For five states that have been identified as having adopted the Equipped
For the Future (EFF) reforms, three (Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee) met or
surpassed all seven of the national achievement levels, while two
(Washington, Maine) were below the national levels on six or all seven
of the average national achievement targets. In states that have adopted
Competency Based Adult Education (CBAE) , California and Connecticut,
both were below six or all seven of the national achievement goals for
literacy. For states involved in managed enrollments, in contrast to
open enrollments such as found in open entry/open exit states, one
(Oregon) met or surpassed all seven national goals, while two
(Massachusetts, Kansas) were below average on all seven goals.  

Funds, Reforms, and Attrition From Programs

States reported the percentage of students who left their programs
before completing them (attrition). Averaged across the 50 states and
the District of Columbia, 25.5 percent of students left before
completing their programs. There was no practically, significant
correlation (r = -.11) between funding per enrollee and attrition rates. 

For the five EFF states, attrition, that is, those who left before
completing their programs, ranged from 16.5 percent (Ohio) to 45.3
percent  (Washington) with an average of 28.7 percent,  somewhat above
the national average for attrition.  For the two CBAE states,
California’s attrition rate was 19.6, while Connecticut’s was 15.1
percent, both well below the national average. For the three managed
enrollment states, Massachusetts had a low rate of attrition of 8.0,
while Kansas had a rate of 18.1 percent, and Oregon a rate of 30.7
percent, well above the national average. Exactly how the states may
have differed in their definitions of "left before completing program"
and how that affected their reports of attrition is not known.   

As the years go by, the report indicates that the data collected by the
NRS will be refined in terms of commonality of definitions of major
terms, use of various assessment devices,  and use of methods for
identifying and tracking the students who participate in the Adult
Education and Literacy System of the United States.
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