Adult Education and Literacy

1 ADULT EDUCATION AND LITERACY 2 STATE LEADERSHIP FUNDS 3 DISCUSSION PAPER

4 Background 5 State leadership funds provided under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) must be 6 used to support AEFLA leadership activities.

7 Issue 8 The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) has an estimated reserve balance coming from recaptured 9 state leadership funds for Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) in addition to the $50,000 that TWC’s 10 three-member Commission allocated in 2016 for the Leadership Excellence Academy. The activity of the 11 academy is postponed until Program Year 2018 due to a change in competition years for grants awarded 12 to AEL providers.

13 Recommendation 14 Staff recommends funding the following projects with funds identified in the Issue section, directly 15 above. Available reserve balance is subject to increase based on ongoing contract negotiations.

Project Title Budget Funding of Distance Learning Software and Related Expenses and/or 1 Professional Development $1,300,000 2 Rollout for Revised Texas AEL Content Standards Up to $350,000 Extension for Program Year 2016–2017 Texas Nonprofit Adult 3 $72,796 Literacy Organizations 16 17 Project 1: Funding of Distance Learning Software and Related Expenses and/or Professional 18 Development 19 On March 31, 2015, the Commission approved the distribution of $1.4 million to grant recipients for 20 purchasing licenses for distance learning software and related expenses. At the time, it was anticipated 21 that the funds would support grant recipients through the end of their contracts. This support of distance 22 learning expansion has resulted in an 80 percent increase in distance learning across the state.

23 On October 11, 2016, TWC received approval from the U.S. Department of Education to extend grant 24 recipients’ contracts for one year, meaning that existing distance learning licenses may expire before new 25 AEL grant recipients are in place.

26 Additionally, TWC has decreased by half the amount of professional development funds that grant 27 recipients may use from the first contract year to pay for local professional development in the second 28 and third contract years. While the new, lower amount of professional development funds is appropriate 29 for some grantees, others would benefit from receiving additional resources for these activities.

1Supplemental DP_AEL State Leadership Projects _1.31.17 1 Approximately $1.5 million in state leadership funds would be provided by contract to grant recipients to 2 pay for: 3  distance learning software and related expenses that support distance learning activities and their 4 continued expansion; and/or

5  professional development activities.

6 No more than 15 percent of the funds distributed to each grant recipient (or $1,500, whichever is greater) 7 may be used to purchase the computer supplies needed to support these activities.

8 Project 2: Rollout of Training for Revised Texas AEL Content Standards 9 In December 2016, TWC revised the Texas Adult Education Content Standards and Benchmarks (AEL 10 Content Standards). These standards allow educators to understand where to focus their efforts and shape 11 overall instruction. The standards must now be translated into a curriculum and lessons for teaching the 12 content of the standards to students. The newly revised AEL Content Standards are ambitious and reach 13 new levels of rigor to address the widening achievement gap between high school completion and college 14 and workforce readiness.

15 As the AEL Content Standards are being developed, Region 6 Education Service Center, in coordination 16 with the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning, is developing reading and math 17 curricula and is training subject matter experts on the new curricula. State leadership funds would be used 18 to pay for a comprehensive statewide rollout of the AEL standards under existing contracts to support 19 deployment in local programs.

20 Project 3: Extension for Program Year 2016–2017 Texas Nonprofit Adult Literacy Organizations 21 Literacy Texas is currently under contract with TWC to provide professional development training to 22 nonprofit and community-based AEL service providers. The training promotes consistency in the support 23 services provided by workforce, AEL, and nonprofit organizations. Summer is typically a busy time. In 24 addition to the professional development training, the nonprofit adult literacy conference has historically 25 been held in August.

26 The 12-month contracting cycle for Project 3 ends in May 2017. Within only a few months, new 27 contractors must implement services and hold a conference in the summer, jeopardizing the quality and 28 intensity of professional development training at a critical period. The funding provided by Project 3 29 would extend the current contract for these services by three months and change the contracting date for 30 new contractors to August 2017.

2Supplemental DP_AEL State Leadership Projects _1.31.17