Success Stories

White House Gives Adult Education the Highest Rating

Kudos to all the hard working and dedicated adult educators and administrators across the nation! The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) housed in the Executive Office of the President evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs through the PART- (Performance Assessment Rating Tool). Adult Education and Family Literacy was only one of four Department of Education programs to receive the highest rating of “Effective.”

According to the OMB, “The PART was developed to assess and improve program performance so that the Federal government can achieve better results. A PART review helps identify a program’s strengths and weaknesses to inform funding and management decisions aimed at making the program more effective. The PART therefore looks at all factors that affect and reflect program performance including program purpose and design; performance measurement, evaluations, and strategic planning; program management; and program results. Because the PART includes a consistent series of analytical questions, it allows programs to show improvements over time, and allows comparisons between similar programs.”

The PART compared AEFLA funded programs to WIA Title I Youth, Youthbuild, Job Corps, and National Guard/Challenge funded programs. According to the precise analysis from National Council of State Directors of Adult Education (NCSDAE), there are three significant findings on Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) programs:

• AEFLA programs are more successful than other programs with similar purposes and goals in recruiting and retraining its target population of out-of-school youth and adults who lack a high school diploma or English proficiency.
• AEFLA programs assist more members of this target population in acquiring a GED or high school diploma, obtaining employment, and entering postsecondary education than all other related federal programs combined. For example, AEFLA programs had 50% more unemployed people obtain a job than all the other programs combined.
• AEFLA programs have a significantly lower cost per participant on several of the job training common measures.

Here are several snapshots tables provided from NCSDAE that compare the success and cost per participant nationally:

Currently, Texas does not have the data available from all the state agencies responsible for administering these funds in order to compare on the state level. However, consideration has been made to compare these funded programs to create a similar statewide report in Texas.

Noteworthy enough, we know that Texas’ cost per participant is under $500 and more students are obtaining a job, retaining a job, and obtaining a GED in the last 5 years. In recent years more than 80% of participants kept their jobs, 59% of unemployed students obtained jobs per Unemployment Insurance data match, and a vast majority with a goal of obtaining a GED received a GED- 88%. In addition, Texas adult education participants outperformed participants in other large states academically in terms of level completions. This is not too shabby considering that there has been no additional state investment in more than a decade. Keep up the wonderful work Texas Adult Education and Family Literacy!

Lori Ruiz-Wamble is the Policy Coordinator at Texas LEARNS, the state adult education office: 713-696-8295, lruiz@hcde-texas.org, 6311 Irvington Blvd., Houston, TX 77002. Lori is responsible for overseeing any state and federal legislation that impacts adult education and family literacy. Prior to working for Texas LEARNS, Lori was managing the capitol office of a State Representative as the Legislative Director. Lori has her Masters in Public Administration with a specilization in Education Policy from the University of Houston.