RD206 - Adult Education Annual Performance Report -- 2008


Executive Summary:
The Office of Adult Education and Literacy (OAEL), located within the Division of Technology and Career Education at the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), provides leadership and oversight to adult education programs and services in Virginia, including Adult Basic Education (ABE), Adult Secondary Education (ASE), and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Although the Code of Virginia places the responsibility for adult education with Virginia’s 132 local school divisions, services are delivered through a partnership of public and community-based providers, which includes: local school boards; community colleges; not-for-profit and faith-based literacy groups; employers; state, local and regional correctional facilities; and state institutions.

OAEL manages federal and state funds allocated for these programs. This report describes progress made in reaching programmatic goals established for providers that use federal and state resources to augment other public or private funds to conduct adult education programs. Virginia’s programs have been successful in meeting the goal of continuous improvement as prescribed by the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA). In fiscal year 2006-2007, OAEL was eligible for incentive funds. Eligibility is determined through a formula that incorporates performance targets established by the National Reporting System (NRS) methodology and negotiated with the U.S. Department of Education (USED) annually.

The fiscal year 2006-2007 data indicate that progress is being made to meet the goals cooperatively established by USED and VDOE. This report presents quantitative information in the following areas: (1) characteristics of the adult education population; (2) program performance summary; (3) educational functioning level (EFL) performance; and (4) follow-up outcome measures. Also included is a section on state management of the performance data.