State Assessment and
Goal Setting/Attainment Policy for Adult Education

Effective Date – July 1, 2011
Revised April 1, 2011

I. Introduction and Context

A. Need for the State Assessment Policy

Texas provides and requires assessment to measure achievement of literacy and language skills for adult students and ties achievement to quality and performance.  Standardized assessments are required by the Workforce Investment Act and Texas House Bill (HB) 1640 (1996 Texas 76th Legislative Session). The state assessment policy addresses Title 34 Code of Federal Regulations 462 Subpart D. The following questions are addressed in the policy: Must a State have an assessment policy? (Part 462.40); How must tests be administered in order to accurately measure educational gain? (Part 462.41); How are tests used to place students at an NRS educational functioning level? (Part 462.42); How is educational gain measured? (Part 462.43); and Which educational functioning levels must States and local eligible providers use to measure and report educational gain in the NRS? (Part 462.44).  The assessment instruments used in Texas were chosen for validity and reliability as an accurate way to measure student progress. The tests chosen for Texas are the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE), General Assessment of Instructional Needs (GAIN), and the Basic English Skills Test (BEST).  The assessment policy standardizes the process of determining student progress and completion of levels.  Student progress and completion of levels may be used as determined by the Commissioner of Education and/or the State Board of Education as a basis for performance-based funding.

Every funded project is responsible and held accountable for the integrity of the data entered into the state’s management information system – Texas Educating Adults Management System (TEAMS). National Reporting System (NRS) http://www.nrsweb.org/ educational functioning levels are determined by NRS approved standardized assessments (TABE, GAIN, and BEST).  All students are placed into an appropriate Educational Functioning Level (EFL) as determined by the standardized assessments chosen by the state.  A subsequent post-assessment shows students’ progress.  Results of the pre- and post- assessment data determine the state’s performance targets, local program performance targets, professional development planning, and the need for program improvement. In addition, pre- and post- assessment data provides actual student performance which determines the state’s performance targets negotiated annually with the federal Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE).  Academic performance targets provide information to the state’s electronic desk review, Adult Education Guidance Information System (AEGIS), on a quarterly basis and in a final annual compliance report. Each local program is responsible for its program’s performance and must provide the state office with a program improvement plan if the local program does not show continuous improvement in student performance.  Programs must meet at least 50% of their Educational Functioning Level performance targets annually.  Original score sheets from tests and/or electronic score reports with results of students’ pre and post test scores must be stored and/or backed up on appropriate media or printed out and filed in hard copy for local, state and federal auditing purposes. Finally, assessment data provides the basis for a variety of formative and summative self evaluations for local programs. Programs approved to offer distance education will follow the same procedures for assessing distance education students as regular students. All assessments are administered face-to-face following the publishers’ guidelines for locator tests, timing, scoring, placement, post testing, and roll over scores.  The Distance Education Policy is located in the appendix.

B. Purposes and Uses of Assessment

In addition to using required standardized assessments for NRS reporting and accountability, programs use assessments for instructional purposes.  In addition to standardized assessments, programs are encouraged to supplement with instructional-based, portfolio-based, and/or teacher-made assessments.  Professional development plans should include the results of assessment data.

C. Summary and Overview

Approved Assessments: The approved assessments in Texas are:

• Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) (Reading, Language, and Math)
• General Assessment of Instructional Needs (GAIN) (English and Math)
• Basic English Skills Test (BEST) - Literacy (Reading and Writing Skills)
• Basic English Skills Test Plus (BEST-Plus) (Speaking and Listening Skills)
• Test of Adult Basic Education Complete Language Assessment System-English (TABE CLAS-E) (Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening)

1. Program Years (PY)
   • Federal Program Year (Adult Education and Family Literacy Act [AEFLA] Funded) begins July 1 and ends June 30.
   • Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) year begins September 1 and ends August 31.
2. Pre-Assessment
   1. Establishing Placement with a Baseline Assessment - Texas requires that students be assessed before the student may be enrolled in the adult education management information system called Texas Educating Adults Management System (TEAMS). The administration date of at least one sub-test of the standardized assessment instrument must be prior to the first contact hour. Tests administered in all sub-test areas within 30 days of each other are compared to determine the placement of the student. TEAMS locates the test closest to, and before the first contact hours in the new program year and then locates any tests within 30 days of that test. A program may administer additional sub-tests of the standardized assessment instrument within 14 days of the first contact hours if warranted. The closest test administered before the first contact hours is first considered. Tests administered up to 30 days before the first test closest to the first contact hours are compared next. Tests up to 14 days after the first contact hour (day) are included in the comparison if administered within 30 days of the group of tests administered before the first contact hour. Examples are listed in the glossary under Domain of Significance (DOS). The lowest educational functioning level determined by the tests compared during the pre-assessment determines the educational functioning level (EFL) or Domain of Significance and placement in the TEAMS.
   2. Baseline for Returning Students - Returning students' post-assessments from the previous year may be brought forward into the new program year and considered the pre-assessment for the new program year. Tests that are to be considered comparable must be administered within 30 days of each other. The 30-day rule applies to assessments rolled forward and for tests administered in the new program year. The process of bringing forward assessments from the previous year is automated in TEAMS and activated by the user.
   3. Twelve (12) Hour Rule - States must report to NRS/OVAE the required measures on all students who receive 12 hours or more of service. (NRS Implementation Guide, Division of Adult Education and Literacy, Office Of Vocational And Adult Education, U.S. Department Of Education, Contract No. ED-01-CO-0026, June 2007.)
      1. Students with at least 12 hours will be counted on the Federal Tables/Reports.
      2. Students with less than 12 hours will be counted on State Tables/Reports.
   4. High ASE Students taking the Official GED Practice Test - A student who has a baseline score on the TABE or GAIN that places him/her in High ASE may be administered the Official GED Practice Test (OPT) as an alternative to registering the student for class. No progress test is available if the student places in High ASE. The only educational outcome is passing the GED or a high school equivalency test. If the OPT indicates that the student is ready to take the GED, programs may refer the student to the official GED testing center to take the GED. Again, the student may be enrolled in a High ASE class, but the only educational related outcome will be passing the GED.
   5. Counting Hours for OPT - Programs not enrolling the student in a class may enter the hours accumulated when administering the TABE, GAIN, and/or OPT in TEAMS by creating a student profile and entering the testing hours under Orientation. Orientation hours should be recorded from a student sign-in sheet designated for "testing and orientation." The hours for these students who are not enrolled in a class, but have a profile and orientation hours may be found in TEAMS Reports under "GED" and found in the report titled: "Participants Achieved GED by Age and Functioning Level."
3. Post Assessment
   1. Minimum Hours Between Pre and Post - After completing the minimum hours of instruction established by the test publisher as posted on the table below, each student must be post-tested in his/her Domain of Significance (DOS) to determine educational functioning level gains. In addition, for each sub-test that has a pre-assessment, a post-assessment must be administered. A completion of the EFL or lowest educational functioning level determines whether or not a student completes the level and will be shown as a completer on the federal report. Post assessments in other sub-test areas are accounted for in the State Gains reports but are not reported on the federal report. Post-assessments must be administered at least once a fiscal year before June 30. If the hours for a course of instruction exceed the minimum recommended hours between pre- and post- testing, post-assessment may most appropriately take place at the end of the instructional session.
   2. Minimum Hours Report - Programs may monitor the number of students who are tested before the minimum hours are accumulated on a TEAMS Report found under "Participants" in the "Participants Tested with Less Than Minimum Hours of Instruction." The target in Texas is for programs to test at least 80% of their students with the required number of hours between pre and post tests. Programs testing less than 80% of their students at the minimum are required to annually reduce the percentage of students posted tested without the minimum required hours. Program Improvement Plans are required if the reduced percentage is not met. (See Exceptions under C.4. for additional information.)
   3. The chart to follow outlines the minimum hours required between approved Pre and Post Tests.
      
      

      TABLE I: Required Instructional Hours between Pre- and Post-Tests (Effective July 1, 2011)
      

      Required Instructional Hours
      Testing Instrument/Assessment	Required Instructional Hours between Pre- and Post- Test
      TABE 9 and 10 ABE (NRS ABE Levels - ABE Beginning Literacy, ABE Beginning, ABE Intermediate Low & ABE Intermediate High) (Using Alternate Forms of Test)	40 hours minimum using alternate forms of the test
      TABE 9 and 10 ASE (NRS ASE Levels – ASE Low and ASE High) (Using Alternate Forms of Test)	30 hours minimum using alternate forms of test
      GAIN ( NRS ABE and ASE Levels - ABE Beginning Literacy, ABE Beginning, ABE Intermediate Low, ABE Intermediate High, ASE Low, and ASE High )	60 hours minimum
      BEST Plus (All levels ESL)	60 hours minimum
      BEST Literacy (All levels ESL)	60 hours minimum using alternate forms of test
      TABE CLAS-E (All levels ESL) (Using Alternate Form of Test)	50 hours minimum using alternate forms of test

      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      

      If the same form of the TABE 9 or 10 test is administered then 120 hours of instruction is required (Example: TABE 9 Form D and TABE 9 Form D).  If the same form of TABE CLAS-E test is administered then 100 hours of instruction is required (Example: Reading Form A and Reading Form A).

   4. Post- Test Annually - Programs are required to post-test each student at least one time annually in each sub-test, but especially in the Domain of Significance, so that post test scores for all sub-tests may roll forward into the new program year, and an appropriate Domain of Significance may be determined in the new program year. If the student is not post-tested in all sub-test areas before the end of the fiscal year, the student must be administered all sub-tests in the new program year for comparison purposes. Post- tests must be administered within 30 days of each other, and the same rules apply as for the pre-assessment. (See Glossary –Domain of Significance for examples.) See each assessment instrument description for a list of sub-tests.
   5. Latest Post-Test on Federal Report - Per NRS guidelines, if more than one post-assessment is administered during the program year, the latest post-test entered into TEAMS (not necessarily the highest post-test) will be used to determine student completions.
   6. Number of Hours between Post-Assessments - An appropriate amount of instruction must take place between a post-test assessment and a subsequent post-test assessment per the publisher's guidelines. An alternate form of the sub-test should be administered each time a test is administered or additional hours of instruction are required. (See Table I)
   7. Assessments for Instructional Purposes - Programs are not required to enter assessments into TEAMS (the management information system) that are used for instructional practices and not used for placement or post-testing. If an approved assessment test is administered for instructional purposes, it may not be later used as a post-test unless the required number of instructional hours has elapsed. This is necessary to prevent a practice effect.
   8. Students Served with Other Funding Sources - Adult students served with non-AEFLA funds or non-AEFLA matching funds such as students funded with TANF or Even Start are not reported on the annual AEFLA NRS federal report. Students served in adult education with non-AEFLA sources are documented in TEAMS; reports are available by funding sources, and reports may be provided to funders.
   9. Score Reports - Original score sheets from tests and/or electronic score reports with results of students' pre and post test scores must be stored and/or backed up on appropriate media or printed out and filed in hard copy for local, state and federal auditing purposes.
4. Test Administrator Training
   Texas requires that test administrators be properly trained before administering standardized assessments. Texas LEARNS provides certified trainers through the regional GREAT Centers to provide test administrator training. Local programs will maintain at least one test administrator for each test instrument and maintain test administrator training documentation on file available for review by a Grant Services Manager or other state staff.
5. Exceptions – Exceptions should be rare and limited.
   Post-testing will occur after completion of publishers recommended minimum hours of instruction. There are no exceptions for testing Adult Basic Education or English Second Language students before the student completes the publishers' recommended minimum hours of instruction. Annually, the percentage of students tested before completing the required minimum hours of instruction will be determined by program. If the percentage of ABE and ESL students who are tested with the TABE, GAIN, BEST, and/or BEST Plus before they complete the publishers' recommended minimum hours of instruction is above the previous year's percentage of total tested in those levels with the above tests, the program will be required to begin a program improvement plan to decrease the number and percentage of students tested prematurely.
   
   The state's goal is to keep the percentage of exceptions for all assessments to 20% or less. Each program will negotiate a target rate with their Grant Services Manager to determine the program's target percentage. At the end of the program year, programs with an increased percentage of students prematurely tested over the previous year's baseline target (or more than 20%) will be required to begin a program improvement plan. Please note that programs on program improvement plans during a fiscal year prior to a grant competition will not be eligible for priority points during the competition.
   
   Documentation for exceptions must be available for review during technical assistance visits, monitoring visits, and program audits.

To get more information about pre- and post- assessment, data collection, TEAMS, required documentation, or any other assessment policy clarification, please contact Texas LEARNS toll free at 1-866-696-4233.

To find a certified test administration trainer, contact the GREAT Center in each region by calling the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) at 1-800-441-READ (1-800-441-7323).

To view the calendar of assessment trainings in the regions or to find the GREAT Center websites, go to the follow link: http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/calendars.htm

To learn more about becoming a certified test administrator contact the GREAT Center in each region at the following link: http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/texasLearns/tLGreat.htm

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