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About O-PAS and the National Reporting System
History and Overview of the National Reporting System
In Ohio, these measures are collected on the Student Registration Form, the Student Progress Form and the Student Exit Form. ABLELink is the computer program that takes a;; of the information entered at the local level from these forms and compiles the data for reporting and evaluative purposes. The two main reports that will be generated by ABLELink are the Annual Performance Report and the Interim Progress Report.
The NRS was born in the 1990's, a decade known for its emphasis on accountability of federal programs. During this time, all publicly funded programs and agencies faced increasing pressures to demonstrate that they had met their legislative goals and had an impact on their client populations. The requirement to demonstrate program impact was mandated in 1993 through the Government Performance and Review Act (GPRA). GPRA required all Federal agencies to develop strategic plans to ensure that services were delivered efficiently and in a manner that best suited client needs and to develop indicators of performance to demonstrate their agency's impact.
In 1995, the U.S. Congress considered eliminating adult education as a separate delivery system by integrating the program into a general system of workforce development. Strong and convincing data on the impact of adult education at the state and federal levels were demanded to demonstrate its importance as a separate education program. Similar demands were raised at the state level. In response to these demands, the state directors of adult education asked the Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL) to work toward developing a national system for collecting information on adult literacy.
To meet this request, DAEL devoted its March 1996 national meeting of state directors of adult education to developing a framework for program accountability. This framework specified the purposes of the adult education program, the essential characteristics of an accountability system, and identified seven categories of outcome measures. At the March 1997 DAEL national meeting, a broad group of adult education stakeholders validated the framework, identified outcome measures for a new national reporting system and discussed possible methodologies for the system. Based on these decisions, the NRS was designed.
The proposed voluntary nature of the NRS changed in August 1998, when the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act within the Workforce Investment Act (WIA-P.L. 105-220) became law. This Act established accountability requirements, including that states develop outcome-based performance standards for adult education programs as one means of determining program effectiveness. The NRS mandate was them expanded to establish the measures and methods to conform to the Workforce Investment Act requirements.
NRS Project Activities
The first phase, standardization, involved the development of standard measure definitions for state and local programs, standard data collection methodologies and software standards for automated data reporting. In the summer of 1998, interim software standards were established, methodologies were identified for pilot testing and draft definitions for use in the pilot test were distributed to adult education stakeholders.
In Ohio, our ABLELink program had been created and was already being used by programs across the state to collect the standardized data that would soon be required by the NRS.
The pilot test was the second phase of the project and was designed to have a small number of volunteer states and local programs test the draft measure definitions and proposed methodologies under realistic conditions. The pilot assessed whether the draft measure definitions worked or needed refinement, as well as the costs, burden and other difficulties in collecting the data using the proposed methodologies. The pilot test was completed in January 1999. Measures and methodologies were revised based on the pilot test.
The third phase of the project, training and technical assistance, began in the summer of 1999, and supported state and local program implementation of the NRS. The different types of assistance included instruction training packets that were suitable for states to use in a "train the trainer" environment; technology-based materials for state and local staff that explain the NRS measures and methods; and individual technical assistance to states to support their implementation efforts.
In Ohio, a state marketing plan was implemented to familiarize local programs with the requirements of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the impact on their programs. The first full-scale introduction to the WIA and the NRS was presented at the Fall 1999 Directors' Meeting. The concepts were reinforced through subsequent presentations, written materials and e-mail communications. The introduction of the WIA and NRS, now integrated into O-PAS, was refined and the four Regional Spring Directors' Meetings were dedicated to delivering a clear and concise overview of O-PAS and its requirements for local program staff. Furthermore, a series of three teleconferences has been held to assist programs in successfully implementing O-PAS. A set of video tapes, along with a resource guide, has been given to every ABLE-funded program in Ohio as a follow-up to the teleconferences.
Throughout the course of the NRS project, an advisory board consisting of state directors of adult education, representatives from volunteer provider agencies, directors of local adult education programs and experts on accountability systems, has guided the project. The board made significant contributions to the measure definitions and methodologies. Participants in the pilot test also provided advice and guidance on measures and methods.
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