[NLA] 1999-2000 OVAE Report

[Art LaChance]

Thanks Tom for the clarification(s).

I find this whole NRS thing quite interesting.  But I wonder how many ground
level troops have the same sense about it that I do.  When NRS first raised
it's head we were quite comfortable with the student processes we had
established through the years, we were preparing folks for the GED, however
we could get there from wherever they were at. Computers had brought us
fabulous programming which allowed us to work with almost 5 times the number
of students with the same number of staff.   Suddenly, NRS required
significantly more testing and very elaborate student and program efficiency
data gathering, without I might add, the funding to support the manpower
requirement nor the vehicle to gather and report the data in this age of
booming technological advances.  And we remain in status quo.

My take on the whole thing is that the NRS was developed and pushed by the
opponents of adult literacy simply to show that it is an ineffective use of
federal funding.

This rural program lost 1/3 of it's student body (GED studies) by the time
we got to the second year of measuring the "core indicators".  This year
we've lost 50% of our ESL population in the nine months since implementation
of regular "testing".  Both of these populations should have increased by
the same 10-15% annual factor indicated over the past 10 years.

Many of us who manage local community literacy programs are working overtime
simply to gather accurate-as-we-can- get NRS data and to report it in
discernable terms to state offices.  But truthfully, we don't see the
benefit here.  It's killing us, but it's what we must do to retain funding.
Rock and a hard place.

Art


Art LaChance
Gilmer Learning Center
Ellijay,Ga




Thomas Sticht wrote:

> In a recent post, Larry Condelli states that both Dave Speights and I
> were wrong in indicating that the report to Congress on the performance
> of the AELS under the WIA/AEFLA act of 1998 that we reviewed was based
> on the National Reporting System (NRS). I'm not certain what the basis
> for Larry's comments is, but the report I received from Dave Speights
> and which I reviewed is publishced under the imprimatur of the Secretary
> of Education and the Assistant Secretary for OVAE and refers to the NRS
> many times throughout its entirety. For instance, page two of the report
> states:
>
> Quote" In order to implement the accountability provisions of AEFLA, the
> Department expanded its collaborative work with States on the
> development of the National Reporting System (NRS) for adult education,
> an initiative that first began four years prior to the enactment of the
> law.  The NRS standardizes the measurement of the core indicators across
> States and establishes procedures for collecting and reporting student
> outcome data to enhance its validity and reliability.
>
> To measure adult students’ attainment of literacy skills, as AEFLA
> requires, the NRS establishes a hierarchy of educational functioning
> levels from beginning literacy through adult secondary education.  The
> NRS describes the reading, writing, numeracy, functional and workplace
> skills (and, for English literacy, speaking and listening skills)
> comprised within each of these levels
.Using the NRS guidelines, local
> programs use a State-identified standardized assessment procedure at
> intake to determine the appropriate level in which each student should
> be placed. 
End quote"
>
> Page three of the report states, Quote"While the NRS promotes greater
> standardization in how States measure and collect data on student
> outcomes, it does not demand uniformity. 
End Quote"
>
> Pages 5 and 6 present data on improvements in literacy and says
> Quote"Performance Measure One:  Demonstrated Improvement in Literacy
> Skills
> On average, 41 States exceeded their performance targets for percentages
> of learners demonstrating improved literacy skills across the measured
> categories of educational performance contained in the NRS.  Eleven
> States did not meet their educational performance targets on average."
> End Quote.
>
> Throughout the entire report, the analyses of data seem to be based on
> what the USED/OVAE is calling information from the National Reporting
> System (NRS). Even the Appendix draws upon the findings discussed in the
> report and is entitled," Appendix: Challenges in the Implementation of
> AEFLA Requirements Using the NRS." Here the report discusses what
> changes might be made to make the NRS a more effective reporting system.
>
> >From all this it seems to me that the report Dave sent me that I
> reviewed appears to be the first report to Congress using what USED/OVAE
> refers to as the National Reporting System (NRS). Perhaps there is some
> official differences between the NRS as USED/OVAE refers to it in the
> subject report and the NRS that Larry says was in effect only after the
> data for this report was submitted from the states. If this is the case,
> then this is something that the USED/OVAE should have clarified in the
> subject report so the field would know the differences between the NRS
> referred to in the PY99-00 report and subsequent reports that will
> presumabaly be based on some different NRS to which Larry is referring.
>
> Tom Sticht
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