February 2010

Welcome to the February 2010 NRS eNotes!

Every few months NRS eNotes highlight additions and attractions of the NRSWeb site, as well as inform you of any upcoming events. Forward this on to other adult education staff in your state and encourage others to sign up to eNotes by emailing nrs@air.org!

2010 Regional Training Tentative Dates and Locations    

The 2010 NRS regional training is entitled Diving Deep into the Local NRS Pool:  Attendance, Transition Outcomes, and Educational Gains.  The training will focus on improving local program performance in each of these three areas.  The training will be held in Chicago, Washington, DC, and San Francisco.  The tentative dates of this training are:

May 25-27

June 8-10

June 22-24

Further information will be available in the next two weeks on the NRSWeb site here.

Leadership Institute to Conclude Next Month

The NRS project will be wrapping up the Leadership Institute for State Directors of Adult Education sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education.  The two-part Adult Education Leadership Institute has been taking place though a combination of online and in-person training that began in late September 2009 and will continue through March 2010.  

After six weeks of online learning, the first of two in-person training sessions took place in Key Biscayne, FL on December 1-3, 2009.  Eighteen participants from 11 states participated. The institute covered two dimensions of leadership: strategic and instructional leadership.  

Work for participants has continued during January and February via the online Moodle site. Participants have been tasked with developing a state vision for adult education and posting it on the site. The final session of the Adult Education Leadership Institute will take place in Austin, Texas on March 9-11, 2010. This meeting will cover the dimensions of operational and transformational leadership.

Lessons from the Field Webinar hosted by NRS

January 19, 2010

NRS hosted a Webinar, Lessons from the Field: Implementing Data Use Learning Communities, on January 19, 2010 to follow up on the 2009  regional training.  The Webinar featured data use learning communities in two states: Arizona and Connecticut.  Presenters included both state and local program staff.  Over 77 participants joined the Webinar and evaluations were positive.  All materials from the Webinar were posted on NRSWeb. 

NRS Assessment Approved

The Department of Education (ED) announced approval of assessments for use in measuring educational gain for NRS reporting.  External review panels of psychometric experts  reviewed each assessment and passed their recommendations on to ED, which made the final determination. Tests approved include: TABE, CASAS, BEST Literacy, BEST Plus, MAPT, GAIN and WorkKeys. Approvals are for either seven or three years. See the Federal Register for further information.

Brenda Dan-Messier Attends Annual TWG Meeting

The NRS Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting was held on January 12, 2010. The TWG includes 11 members who are state directors, a local program director, and a representative from the literacy volunteer network. The TWG members provided guidance and direction to this year’s NRS project activities. In addition, Brenda Dann-Messier and her staff attended the meeting to discuss aspects of the NRS and the impact of potential changes to the NRS under consideration as part of the legislative reauthorization of the adult education program.

Coming Soon:  NRS Resource Guides

The NRS support project will produce four resource guides focused on promoting improved data quality and use: assessment basics, promoting data use at the local level through professional development, lessons learned when developing a data system, and a trend report based on ten years of NRS data. 

• Professional Development: Promoting Data Use at the Local Level will explore the efforts of 3-5 states providing professional development and promoting the use of data among local programs. 
• Data Systems: Lessons Learned will provide an overview of types of data systems in the states and focus on 3-5 systems with good systems. The state summaries will describe the system and lessons learned for developing state NRS  data systems.
• Assessment Basics: All About Assessment will describe types of assessments, the basics of how assessments are developed, the terminology of assessment, and uses of assessment for placement, progress testing and performance testing for the NRS. 
• NRS Data Trend Report will show trends in participation and performance nationally, regionally and within states in ABE, ESL, and ASE. 

NRS Basics  

The second NRS Basics online course was held on October - November 2009. Seventeen participants from nine state offices successfully completed this course. The NRS Basics course covers: accountability and history of the NRS; types and purposes of NRS measures; assessment, follow-up and goal –setting; reporting and using NRS data; and Improving data quality control and using data. Participants evaluated the course and found the information will be immediately helpful to them in their work and the course was a good use of their time.

Did you know...

That you can find support on Program Monitoring on the NRSWeb? Materials including the NRS Policy on Reporting Distance Education Students, the 2007 Summer Training on Desk Monitoring, and the 2004 NRS training on Program Monitoring can be found by clicking here.