Adult Education Administrator's Manual

Accountability

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National Reporting System (NRS)

The National Reporting System for Adult Education

[Webmaster note: Since June 2005, the NRS Website has undergone significant change. Please refer to the NRS Website for definitive current information.]

Adult education program accountability in the State of Texas follows the principles and guidelines that are outlined in the National Reporting System (NRS) for Adult Education. NRS is a project that the U.S. Department of Education has funded through the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy. "NRS is now well established as the Federal accountability system for the adult education and literacy program. It includes measures of student outcomes, including literacy gains, improved English proficiency, attainment of postsecondary credential and student advancement to further education. These measures provide evidence of student achievements from attending adult education programs, and serve as indicators of program performance. Reporting these data meets grant requirements and provides indicators of program success in helping students improve their literacy skills and achieve their goals. These data also can tell the area(s) where a program is doing well, which students succeed in a program, and what types of classes and instructional arrangements are most effective." (Condelli, L., Seufert, P., and Coleman, S. (April 2004). NRS Data Monitoring for Program Improvement, Retrieved May 25, 2007 from the National Reporting System for Adult Education database. http://www.nrsweb.org/docs/NRSDataMonitoringGuideFinal.pdf.

The NRS specifies the reporting requirements of the adult education program and was developed with the assistance of adult educators. The information collected through the NRS assists in assessing program effectiveness to help improve adult education programs and meets the accountability requirements of the federally funded adult education program defined by Title II of the Workforce Investment Act.

The US Department of Education uses information from the NRS to meet accountability requirements and to justify federal investment in adult education programs.
**Use the new searchable NRS Implementation Guidelines.

Core Outcome Measures

Topic	Measures	Categories or Definitions
Educational Gains	Educational gains	Educational functioning levels in reading, writing, speaking and listening and functional areas.
Follow-up Measures	Entered employment	Learners who obtain a job by the first quarter after exit quarter
	Retained employment	Learners who remain employed in the third quarter after program exit
	Receipt of secondary school diploma or GED	Learners who obtain a GED, secondary school diploma or recognized equivalent
	Placement in postsecondary education or training	Learners enrolling in a postsecondary educational or occupational skills program building on prior services or training received

Retrieved May 25, 2007 from NRS Online. http://www.nrsonline.org/reference/index.html?chapter=1&section=2&topic=1&subtopic=1

Other Required Measures

The NRS includes required measures other than Educational Gains as part of its procedures. These measures collect demographic, student status, and participation status data and other outcomes.

Adult education programs have routinely collected these measures and consequently, the collection of them in the NRS should have little or no impact on existing data collection procedures, and are typically collected at intake into the program on a form or sign-up.

The following demographic, status, or participation measures should be collected or measured for each student:

• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Age
• Labor Force Status
• Public Assistance Status
• Disability Status
• Rural Residency Status
• Learner Goals or Reasons for Attending

(Retrieved May 27, 2007 from NRS Online Website.)

Participation Measures:

"The NRS participation measures include contact hours and program enrollment type. Teachers or other program staff typically collect contact hours and consequently the NRS requirement for reporting these hours should have little impact on existing procedures. Local programs have also collected program enrollment type, usually at intake. The collection of this measure allows student demographics and outcomes to be examined separately for the special program types designated in the measure (e.g., workplace and family literacy)." Retrieved July 14, 2004 from Department of Education, National Reporting System Website.

• Contact hours and
• Program Enrollment Type.

Optional Student Status Measures

The following student status measures are optional and identify special target populations identified under Workforce Investment Act (WIA):

• Low Income Status
• Displaced Homemaker
• Single Parent Status
• Dislocated Worker Status
• Learning Disabled Adult

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