As you may recall, in May 2005 representatives from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), met with KYAE staff and visited programs in Jefferson and Fayette counties. This was a targeted monitoring visit to review data collection and reporting through the AERIN system.
As a result of the visit, OVAE required KYAE to:
· Revise its Assessment Policy to include publisher recommendations for the time interval between pre- and post-testing (changes announced in this e-mail).
· Include an accommodated testing section in the Assessment Policy (effective July 1, 2006).
· Discontinue the use of the A-LAS assessment (effective July 1, 2006).
· Revise AERIN so that assessment scores automatically populate the NRS functional level and determine if an educational gain has been made (effective July 1, 2005).
· Collect daily student contact hours (effective July 1, 2005).
More information can be read in the June 2005 and September 2005 issues of News to Use.
Four of the five policy changes listed above have since been approved by OVAE then communicated to the field and implemented. However, revising the assessment policy to include recommendations for the time interval between pre-and post-testing has been an ongoing process with OVAE. KYAE was permitted over the last two years to pre- and post-test before the test publisher’s recommended 60 hours by using an exceptions form. At the end of each fiscal year, KYAE analyzed the exceptions data and sent OVAE a report detailing the questions raised by OVAE concerning our assessment policies and procedures.
Eager to obtain final approval of our assessment policy and close this issue with OVAE, KYAE submitted end of fiscal year 2007-08 exceptions data and a brief analysis. KYAE informed OVAE that while it appears the number of students granted exceptions to post-test prior to 60 hours has increased, KYAE has seen an increase in the average hours of attendance. Kentucky’s average hours of attendance has steadily increased from 49 in fiscal year 2005-06 to 62 in fiscal year 2007-08. However, KYAE was recently informed by OVAE that we would no longer be permitted to continue pre- and post-testing students with less than the recommended time intervals between pre- and post-testing. OVAE felt strongly that our data indicated the following: a practice effect (97% of the students post-tested with less than 60 hours made a level completion), exceptions have become the norm (47% of those with a pre-and post-test were granted an exception) and there was a significant increase (229%) in the number of students post-tested with as few as 12-30 hours from fiscal year 2006-07 to fiscal year 2007-08.
KYAE was then charged with developing an assessment plan that complied with the test publisher’s guidelines to be submitted to OVAE. In developing the assessment post-testing policy, KYAE first examined several states assessment policy, assessment data and then had additional conversations with OVAE. The following assessment policy was submitted and approved by OVAE pending end of fiscal year 2008-09 data. Please read carefully because the policy that KYAE developed is slightly different than the recommended test publisher’s guidelines for the TABE assessment.
Implementing the new assessment policy may require new strategies for assisting students in reaching their goals. Therefore, KYAE staff is working to develop several toolkits that will provide innovative strategies to assist programs in reaching the 50 hour instructional period before post-assessment. Currently, KYAE staff is in the process of identifying research-based strategies to increase retention, replicable recruitment models, and best practices for intake, orientation and assessment. The toolkits containing retention strategies, recruitment models and intake, orientation and assessment best practices will be disseminated spring 2009.
Note, there are two post-assessment policies below an (1) interim post-assessment policy for the remainder of the current fiscal year beginning January 1, 2009 and (2) the final assessment policy for post-testing effective next fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009.
If you have questions, please contact David Walters at David.Walters@ky.gov or (502) 573-5114, extension 122.
Interim Post-Assessment Policy
Beginning January 1, 2009 and Ending June 30, 2009
TABE post-testing shall occur after completion of an instructional period of no less than 30 hours but with a goal of reaching at least 50 instructional hours before post-testing. Instructors will be expected to continue completing an exceptions form for each student post-tested within the 30 to 50 hour range during this time period.
Assessment Policy for Post-Testing
Effective July 1, 2009
TABE post-testing shall occur after completion of an instructional period of 50 hours.
The only time to post-test using TABE prior to the Office of Vocational and Adult Education approved instructional period of 50 hours or according to test publishers’ recommended timeframes is when all three of the following conditions are met:
1. The student must be assessed and enrolled in Low Adult Secondary Education or higher upon entry into the program; and
2. The student’s stated goal marked in AERIN is either to obtain a GED® diploma or Transition to Postsecondary Education; and
3. The student has 30 to 49 hours of instruction.
The Adult Education Reporting Information Network (AERIN), KYAE Web-based data tracking system, will be programmed so that all three conditions must be met in order for post-test scores to be entered for students with fewer than 50 instructional hours.
All other KYAE-approved assessments shall be administered according to the test publishers’ recommended timeframes for post-testing as provided by OVAE which can be found on the NRS Web site.