Evaluation of local adult education and family literacy program will
be conducted quarterly through the Adult Education Guidance Information
System (AEGIS)
with a final report due annually to ascertain the extent to which
both the Texas statewide program and each local provider have met projected
levels of performance for each core indicator established in the State
Plan. AEGIS will perform automatic quarterly desk reviews for each
grantee based on the performance measures and core indicators negotiated
with USDOE and
set by the program in their application thus comparing targets to actual
student data entered into the management information system. Quarterly,
programs will submit a Data Sign Off report to the agency to verify
the integrity of data and that data has been entered into the web-enabled
Texas Educating Adult Management System (TEAMS), i.e., management
information system AEGIS will raise issues and electronically
notify programs if satisfactory progress toward performance measures
is not being made. The two major focuses of the evaluation will be
the effectiveness of Texas statewide and local providers in attaining
the core indicators negotiated with the USDOE and established in the
state and to identify areas where state leadership activities, technical
assistance, and staff development may be directed for program improvement.
Management Information System
Adult education data that will be collected and used in the performance
accountability system will originate from the Texas Educating Adult
Management System (TEAMS) management information system. TEAMS
is TEA’s state-of-the-art, web-enabled system that maintains
student-by-student data including demographic, assessment data, outcomes,
as well as information about class, site, program, and provider information. TEAMS
users can analyze his/her class, site, or program data through use
of the standard reports that can be generated at the user level. TEAMS
provides a wide range of information about adult education, including
snapshots of student and program performance, personnel qualifications,
staff development activities, and evaluation of staff
development.
Real-time reports generated through the TEAMS will be used by local
providers to conduct their own analysis and comparisons of their program’s
performance and develop action plans for continuous improvement. These
reports will also be useful to local workforce boards and one-stop
career center partners in identifying local providers for referral
of workforce clients. TEAMS will serve as a warehouse of information
for
AEGIS (described above) to compare actual data to compliance with target
measures.
Desk Review and Self-Evaluation
On-site visits are completed on a minimum of 20% of programs each
year. In addition, the Adult Education Guidance Information System (AEGIS)
will assist programs across the state in improving program quality
and to perform self evaluation. AEGIS gives the needed tools
for program managers to know the program status at any given point
of time, and it also provides a mechanism to assist programs in need
of assistance. Desk reviews and notifications are conducted electronically.
AEGIS performs the following functions:
- Collects data entered by local service providers/fiscal agents
from TEAMS;
- Compares data reported by fiscal agents to thresholds for acceptable
performance on indicators mandated by law;
- Assesses risk in program performance;
- Identifies discrepancies in data;
- Displays desk review results quarterly for grantees and administrative
staff;
- Flags programs for investigation;
- Alerts staff to potential problems;
- Tracks status on corrective actions; and
- Stores information entered by grantees and administrative staff
including issues, notifications, and improvement plans.
The issues raised electronically through AEGIS are copied to the state
office for adult education and monitored by a manager, who works with
each program to develop program improvement and professional development
plans. All correspondence between programs and the state office
that is generated by the system is kept in a database for historical
purposes and future reference.
A final evaluation report is submitted by each program to the state
agency and the state agency utilizes the information to provide technical
assistance, professional development, and to create mentoring partnerships
and networking for program improvement state-wide.
An Academic Excellence Indicator
System for Adult Education
The Texas Education Agency will submit the required Annual
Performance Report to the USDOE. Other state performance measures may
be submitted to the Texas Legislative Budget Board and Texas Workforce
Investment Council (TWIC).
The Council was created by the Governor and the Legislature to carry
out certain strategic planning and evaluation functions in order to promote
the development of a well-educated, highly skilled workforce for Texas
and to advocate the development of an integrated workforce development
system that provides quality services to address the needs of businesses
and workers. The Council is also charged by the Legislature and designated
by the Governor to carry out the federal and state duties and responsibilities
of advisory councils required by federal law or regulation, including
serving as the State Workforce Investment Board under the federal Workforce
Investment Act of 1998. [See executive
summary for TWIC in Section 3.3]
The performance accountability system for adult education includes the
Indicators of Program Quality (Appendix
I) and core indicators established
in the State Plan. Additional indicators may be added to the system as
it is refined. The level of detail necessary for such an accountability
system will be possible thanks to the amount of adult education data
resident in the adult education management information system, ACES.
ACES assessment data will be used to determine demonstrated improvement
in literacy skill levels.
To calculate the numbers and percentage of Adult Secondary Education
students who achieve a GED or
diploma, Texas will use an automated record match of the TEAMS student
records with the Agency’s GED database and K-12 database (PEIMS)
nightly to give programs daily updated information about GED attainment.
To calculate the numbers and percentages of adult education students
who enter postsecondary education, employment, or job training, Texas
will use data reported in TEAMS as well as an automated record match
of the TEAMS student records with the Texas Workforce Commission databases
of participants in job training and Unemployment Insurance (UI)
and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board database of public
colleges and universities at annually. A memorandum of understanding
exists between the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, to match data in the Higher Education database
and for Higher Education to match for TEA with the database of Texas
Workforce Commission.
During the next two years, TEA with the assistance of HCDE will
gather and analyze data and explore the possibilities for recognizing
programs through an approved incentive system that demonstrate performance
above the state standard. Programs whose performance falls below the
adopted state standard will be provided technical assistance and may
have an approved system of monetary sanctions applied.
Based on the results of program evaluations, programs that employ scientifically-based
or evidence-based research for the design and implementation of programs
which exceed target performance measures thus exhibiting excellence in
providing services to special populations and show continued promise,
may be considered for additional resources to further the investigation
of the effectiveness of the strategy or dissemination of information
about its initial findings to other local programs.
Indicators of Program Quality are the basis of program planning, academic
excellence, teacher proficiencies, learner outcomes, program planning, curriculum
and instruction, support services for educationally disadvantaged adults
and other undereducated adults, professional development, and student
retention.
