Commission Meeting Materials December 20, 2016 9:00 A.M. - End-Of-Year Adult Education

Texas Adult Education and Literacy End of Year Report

Program Year 2016–2017

Executive Summary

In 2014–2017, the first three years of the Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) program following the transition from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), TWC has worked diligently to reshape the face of adult education in Texas, build quality and quantity of program services, and integrate AEL services into the core mission of the agency.

In Program Year 2016–2017 (PY’16–’17), TWC continued to see tremendous growth in statewide offerings of and enrollments in Career Pathways models, and in Integrated Education and Training (IET) in particular. These models provided IET services for over 6,000 participants and provided workplace literacy for over 50 employers.

TWC implemented a wide variety of state leadership projects, which has led to building capacity for IET, providing innovative opportunities for distance learning, and fostering robust and comprehensive staff development for the 34 AEL grantees and 21 special project grantees across the state.

State Leadership Funds, AEFLA, Section 223

Alignment of Adult Education and Literacy Activities with Other One-Stop Required Partners

TWC continues to use State Leadership Funds to support activities that position the statewide system for not only continuous improvement across program outcomes but also for innovation in new directions related to full system integration with core programs and postsecondary education and training.

Accelerate Texas

TWC is implementing its third round of Accelerate Texas projects. These projects support IET models that accept customers who would otherwise not meet academic admission requirements for college-level workforce training. Training is provided concurrently with intensive and contextualized AEL and workforce preparation activities. Projects include objectives related to IET model sustainability based on the use of local and other resources, and grantees have identified sources of collaboration and leveraged funds to support awarded projects such as employer or industry partnership contributions, Local Workforce Development Boards’ (Boards) services and funds, and aid from local, state, federal and private resources. Each Accelerate Texas project requires collaboration with Boards and other partners regarding local and regional labor markets, credentialing demands, and wage information.

Ten projects have been funded since the project’s inception in 2015, and as of June 30, 2017, 989 participants had been served, with an additional 750 contracted to be served through 2018. Occupations for which training has been provided include certified nursing assistant; medical assistant; phlebotomist; pharmacy technician; community health worker; dental assistant; medical insurance technician; electrocardiogram technician; heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning technician; electrician; welder; machinist; machine shop assistant; oil and gas drilling technician, floor hand, and roundabout; industrial mechanic; warehousing technician; supply chain manager; building and property maintenance manager; pipefitter; general maintenance technician; commercial truck driver; medical administrative assistant; office administrative assistant; accounting clerk; paralegal; and drafting technician.

Texas Adult Completion and Skills Initiative

The Texas Adult Completion and Skills Initiative (TACSI), first funded in the 2014–2015 fiscal year, provides services to individuals who are from 16 to 25 years old, are out-of-school, and do not have a high school diploma or a GED. Grantees provided a comprehensive plan to help individuals earn either a high school diploma through a partner dropout-recovery organization or a high-school-equivalency diploma through an AEL provider. Grantees also were required to help participants to enter college training for high-demand occupations that result in credentials recognized by employers. TACSI includes college and career transitional support and employment services to help participants find employment after program completion. This project was particularly effective in that it combines Title II funds with Title I statewide activity funds to be able to provide education and training services to high-school-equivalency students and dropout-recovery students. TACSI served 434 participants.

Site-Based Workplace Literacy Projects

TWC funded 10 site-based workplace literacy projects to develop foundational basic skills and literacy and technical skills to employees, something critical to the health of the Texas workforce and competitiveness of employers. Grantees were required to work with employers and employer organizations as well as their Boards to identify the need for workplace literacy skills for employees. These projects served 1,381 participants across Texas.

Establishment or Operation of a High-Quality Professional Development Programs

The TRAIN PD Consortium

Texas A&M University operates Training, Resource, and Innovation Network Professional Development (TRAIN PD), a statewide professional development effort across the following five institutes: Literacy, Distance Learning and Technology Integration, Stakeholder Integration, Program Management, and Career Pathways. Through the alignment of PD through these institutes and the inclusion of national experts in these fields, TRAIN PD has built a professional development system that compares with other state educational PD systems with respect to its responsiveness to policy shifts and local program needs. In PY’16–’17, TRAIN PD provided 670 professional development events.

Learning Management System for Professional Development Support

The PD learning management system provides flexible PD options for local program staff to earn required professional development hours. In PY’16–’17, 3,980 staff members—94 percent of the 4,229 staff members—completed online professional development curricula.

Local Funding for Professional Development

To support local professional development, state leadership funding is provided directly to local programs to make it possible for their employees to attend professional development events and for the programs to contract trainers through the contract trainer database. The contract trainer database provides a resource for programs to find experts on various training topics to augment development of local program staff. In PY’16–’17, local grantees provided 2,000 professional development events to their staffs.

Professional Development Support for Community-Based Literacy Network

TWC contracted with Literacy Texas, the statewide literacy volunteer-training and advocacy nonprofit organization, to provide professional development to nonprofit and community-based organizations. Literacy Texas is an AEL organization whose primary participants are tutors, instructors, program administrative staff, and trainers of nonprofit adult education providers in Texas. Much of the training that Literacy Texas provides has supported service alignment across workforce, education, and nonprofit support service organizations. Through this contract, services were provided to 569 individuals in one statewide event and six regional events that comprised 86 individual training sessions.

Provision of Technical Assistance to Funded Eligible Providers

TWC staff continues to use strategic evaluation and monitoring processes that allow staff to provide just-in-time technical assistance that uses best practices developed across TWC’s divisions. Regular evaluation of program performance data as well as analysis of type and frequency of technical assistance requests allows TWC staff to develop strategic responses to technical assistance needs. Several state leadership projects augment the state technical assistance efforts.

TRAIN PD Consortium

The TRAIN PD Consortium, described above, supports the development and dissemination of instructional and programmatic practices based on rigorous or scientifically valid research available through a statewide professional development efforts. As part of these efforts, the project has significant focus on supporting the expansion of educational technology and distance learning.

Career Pathways Mentor Initiative

The Career Pathways Mentor Initiative supports the role of providers as one-stop partners and the development of methods to support student access to employment, education, and training services by pairing providers with entities that have built strong IET programs in coordination with workforce partners through involvement in Accelerate Texas over the past six years.

The first career pathways mentor initiative grant award funded a statewide consortium led by Houston Community College. Through the grant, mentee organizations received dedicated support to build their IET models. Additionally, several statewide career pathways events were held, and a database of replicable resources was built.

A new grant was awarded to Amarillo College during PY’16–’17. Mentee providers have been selected for the Peer Mentor Network to receive support, to include needs analysis, site visits, and institutes

Distance Learning Mentor Initiative

Two grantees were selected for this initiative to mentor a total of 8 providers to utilize and expand distance learning in their programs. Activities included direct mentoring, sharing of best practices, and a large distance learning summit, which was opened to all grantees, not just mentees. The mentees increased distance learning services over 300% between 2014-2017

State Role in the Provision of Technical Assistance

Technical assistance for AEL grantees is provided daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly by state program staff.

Daily and Weekly

TWC program staff is in regular communication with the AEL grantees. Each technical assistance event is entered into a database that captures the details of the technical assistance provided, including category, contents, and start and end dates. This information is used to inform the regular biweekly AEL calls, which include all AEL grantees as well as subrecipients and Boards. During these calls, AEL staff members cover critical issues, answer questions, make announcements, and allow time for questions from the grantees. These calls have proven invaluable in keeping grantees informed.

Staff monitors program data at least every two weeks to check for anomalies that may indicate a large-scale misunderstanding in the field related to program implementation. For instance, staff might notice that some service types are being coded in a way that does not align with the types of participants who are receiving those services. This misalignment would indicate that a misunderstanding exists regarding the service or the coding of those services. Depending on the nature of the issue, staff would develop guidance and a method for delivery through phone calls, during the biweekly call, or through a webinar.

Monthly

Each month, as a part of the AEL department’s Rapid Process Improvement dashboard, staff reviews the technical assistance provided during the previous month to establish trends and to determine whether a correlation exists between the technical assistance provided and the quality of program performance. This analysis helps the department find ways to be more proactive about certain topics and develop new processes.

Another key activity each month is the Monthly Performance Report (MPR) meeting. During the MPR meeting, program staff, contract staff, finance staff, and division leadership discuss performance trends, issues, and potential corrective action. The meetings result in plans to be carried out and reported on at the next MPR meeting.

Finally, program staff has a dedicated call with each grantee each month. This call has a standard agenda that comprises discussing key areas of concern, including performance and finances; dispensing new information; and providing clarity on programmatic issues about which staff is to report during the next MPR meeting.

Quarterly

In addition to the activities that occur monthly, staff presents performance results to TWC’s three-member Commission during the quarterly performance work session. This work session keeps the Commissioners apprised of areas of concern, helps staff to better understand TWC’s priorities, and furthers technical assistance efforts.

Depending on the type and amount of new information to be shared, TWC AEL staff holds statewide meetings two or three times per year. The most recent of these events, which was held at the end of PY’16–’17, focused primarily on accountability changes. Staff has worked to make these events as interactive as possible to ensure maximum benefit for the participants.

Staff also offers webinars on a variety of topics throughout the year. Since the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) became effective, staff has provided these webinars more frequently than in the past because of the increase in the amount of information. Webinars are recorded and transcribed so that local programs can access them later and so that program staff can refer to them when answering questions about a topic.

Yearly

Every year, during the final MPR meeting for that program year, staff determines which programs require performance-related corrective action. The Technical Assistance Plan (TAP) requires programs to analyze their weaknesses and performance challenges and to propose remedial actions as well as benchmarks. While TAPs can be issued at any time for performance- or compliance-related issues, and particularly in cases where issues require immediate action, staff generally uses data trends to make recommendations for year-end TAPs.

Local program staff members are required to complete a Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) every year and submit the plan to TWC. The CIP includes specific programmatic and financial challenges, steps the program will take to address those challenges, and professional development requirements to address those challenges. TRAIN PD is engaged in this process to ensure programs have access to the appropriate PD, and its staff members, the PD specialists, work with each grantee to make professional development recommendations and assist in planning.

Monitoring and Evaluating the Quality and Improvement of Adult Education Activities

TWC staff uses multiple strategies to monitor and evaluate the activities being provided across the state.

Subrecipient Monitoring

TWC AEL staff relies heavily on TWC’s Subrecipient Monitoring (SRM) department to ensure that providers are compliant and are serving as good stewards of federal funds. Grantees for on-site reviews are selected annually based on a robust risk analysis that includes both objective criteria and input from the AEL department. All AEL grantees are monitored either in-person or through a desk review, with all programs receiving on-site monitoring once every three years.

While on-site, SRM staff reviews expenditures and records management (including eligibility documentation) and conducts staff interviews to confirm that internal processes for participant intake, screening, and placement comply with TWC’s AEL policy. SRM staff identifies records in

the Texas Educating Adults Management System (TEAMS), which is the AEL information-management system, to compare with on-site records, including student test scores, student attendance records, and staff professional development hours.

The results of SRM reviews enrich the targeted technical assistance to local projects. Additionally, AEL staff conducts sessions at AEL’s quarterly business meetings to discuss common issues, findings, and best practices to encourage peer-to-peer support.

Performance Quality Improvement Awards

Each year at its annual conference, TWC recognizes AEL grantees that have achieved outstanding results in a variety of topics. Grantees are selected either through a nomination process or through objective data analysis, and topics include high school equivalency achievement, integration with the local workforce development system, integration with community colleges, and employer engagement. Grantees that are recognized in these awards are required to share their successful practices across the state.