Welcome to the New NRS Support Project: Enhancing and Strengthening Accountability in Adult Education

AIR has received a contract to lead the 2010–2015 NRS technical assistance project, Enhancing and Strengthening Accountability in Adult Education. We look forward to supporting states in policy and practice related to the national accountability system as well as integrating some novel approaches to enhance the effectiveness of our technical assistance. 

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Goals and Work Plan for Enhancing and Strengthening Accountability in Adult Education

AIR will continue to provide technical assistance and training to States with the goal of helping states collect high-quality data, accurately report data, and use data for program improvement. The following activities support these objectives:

• Technical Assistance (TA) to States: AIR will provide TA to states at OVAE's direction on advancing the policies and processes of state data systems, using NRS data, state data collection, and state assessment.

• Develop Models and Provide TA on Collecting, Reporting, and Using NRS Data: AIR will continue to conduct national TA workshops for all States as well as targeted NRS training to select States.  The next five years include a plan for national training workshops that will (1) offer insights into the use of NRS and census data, (2) provide tools for assessment of local data quality, (3) present data evaluation techniques and “myth-busting” strategies, (4) strengthen states’ capacity to manage program finances, and (5) co-create research tools for using statistical and financial data to research issues relevant to States. AIR’s targeted assistance will help states to strengthen their approaches to assessment and initiate research studies to measure educational gain for states with an interest in these areas. 

• Distance Education Courses: We will continue to offer the successful NRS Basics course. In addition, we will build new online courses on developing score cards and delivering distance education for adults, and we will enhance our current self-paced online courses available through NRSWeb.

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Highlights from Previous NRS Project: Promoting Program Accountability in Adult Education

The previous NRS project, Promoting Program Accountability in Adult Education, provided technical assistance and training, data analysis and reports, and the maintenance of the NRSWeb site. Specific materials and information are highlighted below.

In-person Training

The three regional training activities provided states with an understanding of how to develop and use data reports for program improvement and provided hands-on data reporting tools states could adapt to meet their needs. Click on the links below to view more about each training:

• 2010 Summer Training - Diving Deep into the NRS Local Pool: Attendance, Transition Outcomes, and Educational Gain

• 2009 Summer Training - The Local Connection:  Building a Data Use Learning Community

• 2008 Summer Training - Building and Sustaining Quality in NRS Data: Strategies for Program Improvement

• 2007 Summer Training – Desk Monitoring: Improving Program Performance

• 2007 March Training – Demonstrating Results: Developing State and Local Report Cards for Adult Education

Webinars

Webinars, or online seminars, were introduced to the NRS project and proved to be an inexpensive and easy way to reach out to adult education staff to enhance training sessions, increase awareness of new policies, and share practices between states. Click below to learn more about our webinars.

• Lessons from the Field: Implementing data use learning communities (January 19, 2010)

• 2008 NRS Regional Training (June 24, 2008)  

• Reporting Employment Measures to the NRS (July 25, 2007)

• Data Detective II (February 8, 2007)

• New Carousel Exercise Added to Data Detective Training Resources (January 10, 2007)

Follow this link to read comments from state and local adult education staff who have received technical assistance and training over the past three years.

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