TWC Transmittals Archive
The Texas Workforce Commission division of Adult Education and Literacy is led by State Director Anson Green. Below is a collection of “TWC Transmittals” from Anson that contain general grant-related information, policy clarifications and helpful guidance for AEL-funded programs. This compilation includes select TWC Transmittals dated April, 2018 forward and is updated regularly as new TWC Transmittals are generated. Messages are in date order beginning with the most recent correspondence. To help find topics, you can use your browser’s “Find” function (command + f) to find words in titles listed on this page. |
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2021December 15, 2021Good afternoon -- Attached for your review is the final draft of AEL Letter 06-21, “High School Equivalency Subsidy Program for Program Year 2021–2022” and its attachment. Please email comments to workforce.editing@twc.texas.gov by 3:30 p.m. on Friday, December 17, 2021. If no comments are received by the 48-hour deadline, we will assume that the documents are approved without comment. Resources: AEL 06-21 Draft HSE Subsidy Letter | HSE Voucher Distribution October 20, 2021This week’s Bi-weekly provider call is cancelled. Next call will be November 4th, 2021. Attach: Please find responses for questions related to Performance Based Funding (PBF) passed by the Commission on September 28th, 2021 and PBF Splits approved by Commission June 8th, 2021. Also below are the PD Happenings for Oct/Nov
Introducing Contextualized Video Lessons and Resources for Adult Students and Instructors – Adult Ed Med - https://www.adultedmed.com/ . MORE TO COME on how to use these new resources! Resources: PBF and Targets | PBF FAQ | PBF Split July 7, 2021: May Performance & Other UpdatesI hope this finds you well. Wanted to convey a few items as we slide into mid-July. The Commission is committed to focusing efforts and funding to end the middle skills gap through comprehensive career pathways. We play a mighty role in this narrative as so many lower skilled Texans long for opportunities to earn higher wages in careers that feed our Texas economy. You will continue to see a commitment from TWC AEL to review and revise our approaches to ensure that we are implementing innovative quality models and programs that help support our customers reaching their goals. With your continued feedback, I expect to see some of our early policies evolve over the next year as we evaluate/reflect. I also anticipate more opportunities to demonstrate and create scalable and sustainable career pathway models. May Performance Target Negotiations Carryforward Target Negotiations Last but not least, TEAMS PY 21-22 is OPEN! We typically wait to open TEAMS until after DSO, reason being—there are some old business rules that are attached to PY. These rules sometimes make it difficult to complete EOY reporting in one year, once we open a new year. Let us know if you are experiencing any issues with closing out your PY 20-21 data @ TEAMS.technicalassistance@twc.texas.gov Looking forward to PY 21-22! Resources: MPR Summary | ELF Gains by Domain July 1, 2020 - May 31, 2021 | Enrollments July 1, 2020 - May 31, 2021 | Measurable Skills Gain Contracted July 1, 2020 - May 31, 2021 May 27, 2021: April Performance and Other UpdatesI hope all of you are pushing for strong summer enrollments. The last year has been filled with many challenges and great success. I hope you are willing to share your insights with your peers at the upcoming Fall Institute Aug. 31-Sept 2. There is still time to submit a proposal through May 31st! Thank you to all the early submitters! WII Grant Close Out AEL Letter – 48 hr review process In the future, the email notification will include the normal “TWC Transmittal:” subject line and the body will look like this: 48-Hour Review: AEL Letter 04-21, "AEL Enrollment and Data Validation Requirements" and Attachment 1 (Comments Due Friday at 1pm) Please email comments to workforce.editing@twc.texas.gov by 1 p.m. on Friday, May 28, 2021. (Please do not email your Program Specialist or AEL TA.) If no comments are received by the 48-hour deadline, we will assume that the documents are approved without comment. April Performance I am looking forward to a new program year filled with innovation and opportunity to grow our program. We will soon be kicking off Year 4 of this grant cycle and we are already planning and authoring our next RFA. Thank you all for your hard work this year—I see you—and can’t wait to share some exciting updates for Y4 at our Fall institute! Resources: Enrollment and Data validation Elements | Enrollment Source Documentation | MPR Summary Report | Gains By Domain (Jul - Apr) | Enrollments (Jul - Apr) | MSG Contracted (Jul - Apr) | MSG Management Report (Jul - Apr) May 20, 2021: AEL Bi-Weekly Call[Meeting recording no longer available] Resources: Grantee Signature Authority List | Call Agenda | Letter | EOY Checklist | Survey March 25, 2021: Bi-Weekly Call[Meeting recording no longer available] Resources: Response to Public Comments | Call Agenda March 19, 2021: TEAMS 5.6 Release NotesDear Grantees, I hope you are all well and getting ready for beautiful weekend. Attached you will find the TEAMS 5.6 Release Notes. The TEAMS release this morning has two user facing defects that I have been discussing with you over the last several months.
In the next bi-weekly call, I will ask about the new requirements and get some feedback. Hope you all have a great weekend. Resources: TEAMS 5.6 Release Notes March 8, 2021: January Performance & HiSet UpdateDear Grantees, Happy Monday! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. I wanted to provide the January Performance Reports and introduce some new reports! Also, brief update on HiSet contract. Report: “EFL Gains By Domain”
How Can You Use It
Report: “MSG Gain PBF” State Performance HiSet Update We will NOT be extending February data sign off (March 15th) unless there is a system issue/outage or unforeseen circumstance. Resources: Gains by Domain | MPR Summary Report | Measurable Skill Gains PBF Report | Enrollments | Measurable Skill Gains Contracted February 8, 2021: TALAE PRE-CONFERENCE & TWC ANNUAL CONFERENCE -- CALL FOR PROPOSALSDear Grantees, Happy Monday! I hope this email finds you well. Attached is the final agenda for the TALAE Pre-conference. The morning session is the AEL Best in Class Awards and Business meeting—open to all. The afternoon is reserved for those who are in these roles:
You can register for the Pre-conference or regular TALAE sessions here: https://www.talae.org/registration.html Reminder: CALL FOR PROPOSALS DUE FEB. 12th! TWC Annual Workforce Conference Nov. 17 – 19, 2021 As we look forward to the new year, and in preparation for the upcoming 2021 Annual Workforce Conference, scheduled for Nov. 17 – 19, 2021, at the Marriott Marquis Houston in Houston, Texas, If you have any questions about the TWC conference or proposal submittal, contact Carolyn S. Zubeldia at (512) 463-5556 or carolyn.zubeldia@twc.texas.gov ; Julia Mercado at (512) 463-9936 or julia.mercado@twc.texas.gov Resources: TALAE Agenda January 14, 2021: Bi-Weekly Call[Meeting recording no longer available] Resources: Grantee Targets Briefing | MAWAE Fact Sheet | MAWAE Flyer Template | MAWAE Social Media Posts | Call Agenda 2020December 31, 2020: November PerformanceI hope this long email finds you well. As we close out another year and say farewell to 2020, I cannot help but be hopeful and optimistic about what the future holds for AEL. I have seen the depth of your dedication and commitment and I know that with every new challenge, there is also great opportunity. I have always been extremely proud of this program and its potential, its core principle rooted to a singular objective—improving the lives of our students. For a lookback at some of your key accomplishments over the last two years, take a little time to review the AEL Strategic Plan Progress Report, found at https://www.twc.texas.gov/files/twc/commission_meeting_material_12.15.20_item15_2020_ael_strategic_plan_progress_report.pdf. Thanks to all who contributed pictures and success stories that are featured. We will begin the process for developing a new strategic plan over the next several months. Input from our AEL Advisory Committee, grantees and key stakeholders play a big role in tactical solutions for implementing strategies and creating new milestone(s) over the course of the next 5 years! Alas, there is always work to be done. Over the next several months, we will be taking a deeper dive into our policies and practices, preparing for the next RFA. What works? What doesn’t? What needs more explicit direction? Where should we be more flexible and offer more local control? Is the current funding allocation method the best option? All these are questions we will be asking ourselves and you in the coming months/year. Also, attached you will find the November performance reports. These are only numbers without performance methodology applied. Adam Leonard will be taking all the performance targets to Commission for action January 19th. I am going to rewebequest that DOI apply the non-approved targets to December reports with a disclaimer that they are not final until Commission approves. Please prepare for a big Spring push for enrollments and post-testing.
Non NRS Students Good News!
Reminders As always, I am incredibly thankful for your work and I am wishing each of you a very happy new year! Resources: MPR Summary Report | Students with Provisional Assessments July to November 2020 | Measurable Skills Gain Contracted July to November 2020 December 17, 2020: Bi-Weekly CallAttached are the documents for the Bi-Weekly Call at 10:30 am CST. This week our Bi-Weekly call will not be using Live Event. It will be a Teams meeting. If you open the meeting link in a web browser, please use Edge, Firefox or Chrome. Internet Explorer is no longer compatible with Microsoft Teams. Virtual Meeting etiquette reminders:
December 6, 2020: TEAMS 5.4.1 Release and WebinarsI hope this finds all of you well. As announced on the bi-weekly call last week…On Monday 12/7/2020 @ 11am CST, we will host a TEAMS 5.4.1 webinar to review the updates that will go active in TEAMS when the release deploys 12/15/2020. You can register for the webinar in the PD Portal. Attached you will find several documents related to the changes in TEAMS. We will review these documents in the webinar. They should be used to revise local enrollment forms to ensure that you are collecting all the required elements and to train local staff. TEAMS 5.4.1 Release Notes : Includes details on defects that are being corrected during the release. Will also contain prototype screen shots of what users can expect to see when the changes roll out in the system. Two defects 1) Update the PIRL elements 2) Add Grant Recipient column to Educational Outcome screen Instructions for AEL Enrollment Form—Details both new and modified elements that will need to be updated on local enrollment forms that will occur in TEAMS release 5.4.1 on the participants record/profile. Provides definitions and selection choices for each element. Please ensure that available staff who perform duties related to data collection and data entry attend the webinar, if possible. This will help to facilitate implementation. Resources: TEAMS 5.4.1 Full Release Notes | TEAMS Release 5.4.1 PPT | TEAMS Release 5.4.1 Intructions for AEL Enrollment Form December 3, 2020: AEL Bi-Weekly CallResources: COVID-19 FAQ | Call Agenda | Statewide Reading Support Services Survey November 19, 2020: AEL Bi-Weekly Provider CallResources: Call Agenda November 5, 2020: AEL Bi-Weekly CallResources: Call Agenda | StudentNest November 3, 2020: Bi-weekly call & Target Negotiation Tool questionsAs mentioned in Adam’s email below, we will discuss on the call this week—get those questions ready! Reminder: Call was moved up to 9:30am CST, look for the updated meeting invite already sent out for November 5th. The deadline for the negotiation tool to be submitted is : Thursday, November 12th Due to the call being a Microsoft Teams live event, wanted to provide some recommendations for asking questions:
Resources: PY20 Participants Served Target Negotiation Tool for Grantees | PY20 Target Tool Narrative October 27, 2020: Performance Based FundingGood Afternoon Grantees – This morning, the Commission approved three items related to performance-based funding for this Program Year (PY’20) and for PY’21. Staff will issue an AEL letter outlining this, but in the meantime we wanted to share an overview of what was approved. We will address any questions related to this in the next biweekly call. AEL Performance-Based Funding Criteria and Release of Funds in PY’20 NOTE: This PY’20, the PBF holdback is 2% of an AEL grantee’s allocation. The 33.33% and 66.66% breakouts of the PY’20 total the 2% holdback.
On October 8, 2019, the Commission approved the following PY’19 performance-based funding criteria as established in HB 1949, which grant recipients were required to meet to access 33.33 percent of the PY’20 performance-based allocation. Those criteria are as follows:
Rescission: Beginning in March 2020, HSE testing centers (that is, physical facilities) closed in response to COVID-19 measures, leaving AEL participants unable to take high school equivalency tests. The centers remained closed throughout the spring and into the summer and began the reopening process according to guidelines issued by the governor. Additionally, training options offered in ability-to-benefit programs became and remain limited due to social distancing measures. Because of these circumstances, staff seeks direction on rescinding this measure for PY’20 and monitoring the progress of AEL participants attaining postsecondary and HSE credentials throughout PY’20. The amount to be released to each grantee for this rescission is reflected in Attachment 1.
Grant recipients will be awarded approximately 66.66 percent of their PY’20 performance-based funding allocation if, by March 31, 2021, participants enrolled in the first two quarters of the program year meet the grant recipients’ first to third quarter MSG targets for Program Year 2020–2021, as approved by the Commission.
Release of Funds: Funds for achievement of this measure will be released after the third quarter of PY’20. The amount to be released to each grantee for meeting this measure is reflected in Attachment 1.
To continue implementation of HB 1949, and to allow grant recipients to access approximately 33.33 percent of the future PY’21 performance-based allocation, as follows:
Release of Funds: Funds for achievement of this measure will be released after the first quarter of PY’21. [1] Consistent with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Credential Rate Denominator, a participant in an HSE program is a participant who reaches an Educational Functioning Level of at least ABE 5 in all domains or takes and passes a portion of the HSE exam. A postsecondary ability-to-benefit program is a postsecondary credential program for individuals who lack a high school diploma or equivalency, qualify for federal student financial aid, and demonstrate on an assessment instrument, such as the Texas Success Initiative Assessment, that they can pass college-level courses with some support. Resources: Commission Meeting Material October 23, 2020: Program Updates & September PerformanceThank you so much for your patience and continued perseverance through the pandemic. We have been in this for almost eight full months now, and have done a tremendous amount of work to ensure that our programs can continue to provide valuable services. Attached you will find a few items:
Reminders:
GED Manager for Adult Educators—Webinar, October 27th @ 1pm CST. Attendee Link As always, I appreciate all of your hard work and continued feedback. Resources: AEL Letter 08-20 | MACC Letter 09-20 | MPR Summary Report | MPR Summary Report (Sept 19) October 22, 2020: Bi-Weekly Provider CallAttached are documents for the Bi-Weekly Call today 10/22/2020 on Microsoft Teams Live Event at 10:30 CST.
TWC Referral Form (updated) Resources: Call Agenda | MACC Flyer (English) | MACC Flyer (Spanish) | StudentNest | Referral Form October 19, 2020: Delivarable Surveys DueThis is a reminder that there are survey deadlines coming up. We have updated the surveys. Please see the attached PDF versions to use in preparation for completing them. Deliverables—Two surveys are due next week, on Saturday, October 24th at 11:59 pm CST, both open now:
If you have any questions, please contact your contract manager or program specialist. Resources: Pandemic Deliverables October | WII Delivarables October October 16, 2020: Math Assistance Call Center InformationAttached you will find the following documents related to the Math Assistance Call Center (MACC):
We encourage you to set up your MOU with StudentNest as soon as possible to avoid any delay in service to the students. The student MUST have their TEAMS Participant ID when they reach out to StudentNest for assistance, please make sure that your instructors are aware of this. At the bottom of the flyer there is a space to include Participant ID, for the student’s reference. For questions, please see tutoring@studentnest.com or 1-888-295-3916 for Chander Joshi with StudentNest. Thank you and have a great weekend! Resources: Flyer for Participants (English) | Flyer for Participants (Spanish) | StudentNest September 24, 2020: NEWSFLASH: $750,000 adult education challenge to advance pre-apprenticeshipsPlease see the below release from the Department of Education. What a great opportunity to expand #TxAEL in pre-apprenticeship. I hope all of you consider applying! Resources: ReThink Adult Ed Challenge Sample Content | Social Share 1 | Social Share 2 September 24, 2020: Bi-Weekly Provider CallAttached are documents for the Bi-Weekly Call today 9/24/2020 on Microsoft Teams Live Event at 10:30 CST.
We will have a special activity to open the call. You will need to open the link for Mentimeter in a separate web-browser window. Resources: Math Call Center jpg | Math Call Center PDF | Call Agenda September 18, 2020: Deliverable Surveys DueThis is a reminder that there are survey deadlines coming up. We have updated the survey. Please see the attached PDF versions to use in preparation for completing the survey. Deliverables—Two surveys are due next week, on August 24th, both open now:
If you have any questions, please contact your contract manager or program specialist. Resources: WII Grant Deliverables September | Pandemic Deliverables September September 10, 2020: Bi-Weekly CallResources: Summer Business Meeting | Math Call Center | Fall Institute Agenda | Call Agenda | Director's Pre-Conference Agenda September 4, 2020: Program UpdatesI hope you are all safe and well. In lieu of a bi-weekly call last week, I am sending this out for a few updates on AEL happenings. A special appreciation and thanks for all the well wishes and congratulatory messages on the recent news of my selection as AEL State Director. I am so humbled and excited to serve with you as we continue our important work here in Texas. Announcements Math Assistance Call Center (MACC)—On April 14, 2020, the TWC Commission approved a student support call center which assists eligible AEL students with preparation for the mathematics portion of the Texas Certificate of High School Equivalency (TxCHSE) exam and mastery of basic skills in Mathematics. Attached is a flyer with some additional information, expect more specific information in upcoming weeks on how to get started and track student’s participation. Policy or Technical Assistance Items TEAMS Release 5.3 –Scheduled for release 9/17/2020 (tentative). For a review of what to expect with this release, please review the items in the summer business meeting on “TEAMS Updates” located at https://tcall.tamu.edu/twcael/docs/20-AELBusinessMeeting/Day_3_Session_2-TEAMSUpdates.pdf starting around page nine (9). We are planning for webinars shortly after the release of the new features. I will announce them on the bi-weekly call and in the PD Portal. I know that is a lot in one email. I hope you all have a safe and relaxing holiday weekend. Resources: Math Call Center | High School Voucher Tracker | HSE Subsidy Program | Director's Pre-conference Agenda | Fall Institute Agenda August 20, 2020: Program UpdatesI hope this email finds you well. Starting a new year during a pandemic is no easy task and we are here to support you as you build out TEAMS, open classes for students, train staff, and plan for next steps. I wanted to provide you with a few updates for August. Carryforward Targets—As mentioned during the AEL Summer Business Meeting July 31st, we were proposing no carryforward targets for unspent year two funds—this has been agreed upon and approved. What does this mean? It means that some of you have Y2 and Y3 funds available now to support scale up and current/continuing AEL activities. Spend your Y2 funds first, Kara will be keeping an eye on this and balances for both years will be available in your monthly report cards. PY 20-21 Targets—TBD, but start local discussions now so you are prepared to negotiate. Deliverables—Two surveys are due next week, on August 24th, both open now:
I have attached both PDF versions for you to review prior to starting. TEAMS Webinars—You asked for it and you got it! Register in the PD Portal. Title: Workforce Integration Initiative (WII) and Reporting Follow Up Activities in TEAMS Description: We will discuss overarching purpose and details of your current WII grants and how recent TEAMS updates allow you to more easily report employment outcomes for individuals who lack an SSN or chose not to provide an SSN. Friday, August 28, 2020 11:00am-12:30pm Title: TEAMS: Implementing AEL Assessment Guide Revisions with Pandemic Exceptions Description: This hands on training will navigate users through how TEAMS will treat NRS approved test for the purposes of establishing baselines and progress test at a participant level regardless of Grantee. We will also explore the new MSG Management Report to show how it captures all MSG performance. TEAMS Training Environment—Be on the lookout for an email that will include access information for the TEAMS Training Environment! I hope you are safe and well. Resources: Grant Deliverables | Core Grant Pandemic Expenditures July 27, 2020: Deliverable Extension 6.1 Detailed Project PlanDue to some delay in providing the target negotiation tool, I wanted to offer an extension of deliverable 6.1 Detailed Project Plan. The purpose and intent of the project plan is to forecast both enrollment and expenditure information for PY 20-21. While this is a living document, we thought it would be better to wait until target negotiations are final and your forecasted enrollments and expenditures can be better developed based on discussions that occur during that process. Hopefully, this will save you time (as well as our resources) in having to process one document/deliverable instead of having you submit one now and then re-submit when targets are finalized. New Deadline: Monday, 8/31/2020. You will see an update to the meeting reminder from Kara McVey. July 24, 2020: JUNE/EOY PERFORMANCE and TEAMS 5.1.1 Release NotesHow’s it going out there?! We are in this together and we are here to support you. I am looking forward to our upcoming Summer Business meeting next week even if I only get to see you online! Fall Institute (September)—Proposals: Performance and Targets Target negotiations PY 20-21—I met with Adam Leonard (DOI) today to continue to discuss PY 20-21 target negotiation tool development. I am hoping by the business meeting next week, I will have some more definitive updates. For now, continue to build remote and distance learning options and enroll students for a strong fall. TEAMS 5.1.1 Non NRS Students/Classes I know you are all anxiously awaiting the opening of the new program year in TEAMS (me too!) and I appreciate your patience. I hope you all have a relaxing and safe weekend. Resources: Summary Report EOY | Credential (Jan - Dec) | Employed or Enrolled (2nd - 4th Qtr) | Employed or Enrolled (2nd Qtr) | MSG Contracted | MPR Summary Report | Summer Business Meeting 2020 | TEAMS 5.1.1 Full Release Notes July 8, 2020: PY 20-21 UPDATESHope you all had a safe and relaxing holiday weekend, sorry for the delay in getting this out to you. I wanted to provide you with some updates on processes for PY 20-21 as forecasted on the call last Thursday. Staff Development For staff that met their PD hours, but TEAMS is still requiring a staff exemption, there will be a simplified process.
TEAMS Access
AEL Department Changes As duties evolve to fill Anson’s vacancy, we will also need to make some adjustments of AEL program staff’s grant assignments to ensure continuity of care to all our current projects, both Core and State Leadership. I have worked with staff to review the path of least resistance and greatest return on investment and will reach out to programs after the PY19-20 data entry deadline to announce any changes. We look forward to another amazing year in #TexasAEL and as always, we appreciate all that you do!June 29, 2020: May Performance ReportsThank you for your patience in getting this out to you, we have been a bit busy here as you can imagine! Attached you will find the standard May performance reports as well as a new report (Continuing Students) to help us better understand services during Q4 of the program year. No surprise that the pandemic has impacted our ability to maintain traditional operating functions during this time, but we have been advocating across the country about all the amazing work being accomplished (by you) during the last few months to ensure continued care and services to our students. Please continue to work with your local leadership to determine facilities/space, staff, technology needed to ensure we have continuity of services for both continuing and new students as we move into summer months. Our communities count on us and we need to be prepared to answer the charge over the next months/year. We are here to support you and continue to advocate for your needs. Please be responsive to surveys that are sent—this helps us tell your story. Friendly reminder to start working through your end-of-year checklist and getting all your data up-to-date and ready for final sign off July 15th, 2020. As we move to close out another exciting and challenging year in AEL, we look to the future…new chapters, continued innovation and excellence! Be safe out there and as always, we appreciate all that you do! Resources: Summary Report | Enrollments | MSG Contracted | Continuing Students May 14, 2020: Distance Learning (DL) Professional Development (PD) RequirementsGood morning Dear grant recipients and providers: Please be advised that the Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) Distance Learning (DL) Professional Development (PD) requirements for AEL are temporarily being adjusted through the end of the ’19 – ’20 program year. Any local program level staff currently teaching, facilitating, or supporting distance learning are required to complete DL Academy Module 1: Nuts and Bolts through the PD Portal before the end of the program year, if not previously taken. This includes AEL Directors, DL Instructors, DL data clerks and others who implement local DL policy to accumulate proxy hours for programs. This does not include AEL staff involved solely in Remote Learning and applies only to those engaged in DL activities with Approved Distance Learning Curriculum: https://tcall.tamu.edu/twcael/initiatives/distcurriculum.html. Please send any questions to AELTA@twc.texas.gov May 8, 2020: IET During the Pandemic SurveyDear grant recipients and providers: Good Morning! I hope you are doing well. As promised, here is the link to the survey for more depth on your IETs during the pandemic. Please complete and don’t hesitate to add comments to your responses. Forward to any subrecipients that are delivering IET or IET ELCIVICS programs. I’ve attached a version in PDF so you can prepare to respond. We’ll do a formal report out to the field after receiving what you submit. And finally, look for an invite from Alaina for our next statewide IET call on Friday 5/15 at 10:00am. Survey_IETs During the Pandemic (Phase 1) April 24, 2020: March Performance ReportsDear Grantees, Thank you so much for all your hard work and efforts during the last two months. Two notes: Second, I wanted to share with you the March performance reports and make a few clarifications:
As we move closer to closing out another adventurous program year, we want you to know that you will continue to see tips, tools, and resource updates on how to serve students remotely moving forward into PY 20-21 as well as preparations for continuing current students. Great job on the SSN rate collection, keep up the diligent work! We will continue to monitor this for purposes of combining TANF funds. I hope everyone takes some time for themselves this weekend. Stay safe, stay healthy and let us know how we can help. AEL - MPR Summary Report March April 24, 2020: Forthcoming questions for FAQDear grant recipients, providers, and stakeholders: TGIF and Good Morning! I hope you are doing well. Please find below a preview of questions and answers that will be included in our next FAQ which we hope to have out Monday. Accessing Teams TEAMS A: TEAMS is operates on the same server system as Unemployment Insurance (UI) system. Due to the extreme volume of people applying for UI, both websites are affected during peak times. We recommend to try accessing TEAMS before or after the hours of 0800-1700. Conference Cancelation A: Yes, provided that a grantee or subgrantee first seeks to recover nonrefundable costs (e.g., travel, registration fees) associated with a grant from the Department from the relevant entity that charged the fee (e.g., airline, hotel, conference organizer). Some businesses are offering flexibility with regard to refunds, credits, and other remedies for losses due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, many agreements or contracts for conferences, training, or other activities related to a grant contain an emergency or “act of God” provision, and the grantee and its subgrantees must seek to exercise those clauses to the extent possible in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. If a grantee or subgrantee is unable to recover the costs the grantee or subgrantee may charge the appropriate grant for the cancellation costs, provided the costs were reasonable and incurred in order to carry out an allowable activity under the grant, consistent with the Federal cost principles described in 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart E of the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance). Grantees and subgrantees should not assume additional funds will be available should the charging of cancellation or other fees result in a shortage of funds to eventually carry out the event or travel. Grantees and subgrantees must maintain appropriate records and cost documentation as required by 2 CFR § 200.302 (financial management) and 2 CFR § 200.333 (retention requirements for records) to substantiate the charging of any cancellation or other fees related to the interruption of operations or services. Conference Rescheduling A: The grantee must take the following actions: • If the grantee cancels its conference registration and associated travel arrangements because the grantee is not available on the new conference date, the grantee must make a reasonable attempt to recover the costs from the entities that charged them. If the grantee is unable to recover the costs, then, consistent with the above-referenced ED Fact Sheet, the grantee may charge the AEL grant for the costs, provided the costs were incurred to carry out an allowable activity under the grant, and are consistent with the Federal cost principles in the Uniform Guidance.
In situations where it is necessary for a grantee to attempt to recover conference costs, but the grantee was unsuccessful in its efforts, the grantee’s supporting documentation for the conference costs should include a brief description of the steps that the grantee took to attempt to recover the costs. The explanation may be scrutinized by TWC monitors and other external parties as they consider whether reasonable steps were taken to avoid or reduce any conference cancellation costs. Prepaid Phones A: A prepaid phone (also commonly referred to as pay-as-you-go, pay-as-you-talk, pay and go, go-phone, prepay, or burner phone) is a mobile device such as a phone for which credit, typically through a top-up credit card that is purchased in advance of service use. The purchased credit is used to pay for telecommunications services at the point the service is accessed or consumed. If there is no credit, then access is denied by the cellular network. Users can top up their credit at any time using a variety of payment mechanisms. For AEL staff: Prepaid mobile cell phones and top-up credit are allowable costs for staff who are reasonably required to maintain contact with participants during the pandemic. Supporting documentation should include a brief statement to that effect and the necessity to keep the staff’s personal phone number private. Contact your TWC grant manager to make a budget changes to accommodate the costs. For AEL Participants: Before purchasing pre-paid cell phones for participants, AEL providers should consider and exhaust all other options. Decisions should generally be made on a participant-by-participant basis, and the supporting documentation should explain why the participant needs the phone to participate in the AEL program, for example, a combination of the reason that the AEL program requires phone communication, the frequency of phone communication that the program requires for program participation, the circumstances that prevent the participant from engaging in phone communication (e.g., no access to a phone, a shared phone with limited minutes, etc.), and a determination that the individual is ineligible to receive phone assistance through other public assistance or phone programs. If there is a cost savings in recycling them for future participant use, a system for recovering the phone, sanitizing it and clearing any personally identifying information and data, and “assigning it” to the next participant will need to be set in place. AEL providers must follow the same loaning guidelines for laptops/tablets in this FAQ. Please see: Question 16 Loaning Laptops/Computer Equipment to Students. Methods to Track Attendance A: Yes. Personally Identifiable Information, and other sensitive information, must not be disclosed to anyone other than an individual or entity authorized by law to receive the information. Data Clerks may pull attendance straight from Zoom to ensure participant data is protected. Providers must include this method of data collection in their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Q: For instructors that are emailing a screen shot or excel sheet for attendance purposes, can their email signature be used instead of their hand-written signature, or will they have to print and sign it before emailing it? A: Grantees must ensure that appropriate protections be put in place to avoid a Personally Identifiable Information breach. The same methods used for collecting enrollment forms, such as Adobe Pro or Docusign can be used. If a Provider chooses to use the email signature, it must include an acknowledgement such as ‘ I certify this attendance for my Zoom class on this date, etc…’ or something similar to this. Providers must include this method of data collection in their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).April 23, 2020: Weekly Conference Call 4.23.2020 Additional AttachmentsGood morning, Attached is an additional document (AEL Remote Testing Letter Draft) that will be discussed during today’s AEL Weekly Conference Call. April 16, 2020: 2020 AEL Assessment GuideGood morning, If no comments are received by the five-day deadline, we will assume that the document is approved without comment. Texas AEL Assessment Guide (12.19.19) Track Changes (Five-Day Review) April 14, 2020: UPDATE-Guidance on Serving New Students at a DistanceGood Morning ! I hope you are doing well. Please find a slightly updated version of the PASES tracker:The instructions tab has been updated to reflect specific column descriptions to assist users with completing appropriately. I appreciate all you do! PASES_New Student Tracker_Final4.14.2020 April 14, 2020: AEL Provider Funding Support for COVID-19 ResponseDear grant recipients, This morning, the TWC Commission approved modifications and additional projects to support AEL grantees as part of a COVID-19 response package using available funding resources at the agency’s disposal to provide funds to quickly to providers as they redesign services and address local impacts from the pandemic. In this response package, AEL staff noted there was an increased need to support serving participants at a distance.
We will be making edits to both AEL letters related to these items 1 and 2. The Commission asked that we revisit the progress of work under these projects and determine future funding needs as Texas AEL expands distance and remote instruction and other work resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, If you have any questions on this funding. Please contact me. Commission Meeting Materials 041420 Item 10a April 7, 2020: 4/7/2020 Guidance on Remote TestingDear grant recipients and providers: I hope you are doing well. Yesterday the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) released information on virtual/remote testing on the Best 2.0 (attached). Providers should not yet begin testing remotely until TWC provides guidance. TWC is awaiting forthcoming guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and is developing guidance on how providers can use this option and hopes to issue this via email in the next day or two. This guidance will also be included in the FAQ document to be released this week. Please submit your questions to AELTA@twc.texas.gov . BEST Plus 2.0 Virtual Test Administration Guidance 200402 April 2, 2020: Policy Concept (Chapters 800/805)Good afternoon, As discussed in the conference call this morning, below is the link to the Policy Concept for Rules 800/805. I have also attached (below) the email sent from TWC Govdelivery as a reference for where to send comments and public feedback. https://twc.texas.gov/files/partners/800-805-policy-concept-approved-3-31-20-twc.pdf ----- 1. Purpose: The purpose of this communication is to engage interested parties including, but not limited to, Board chairs, members, and executive directors in TWC rule and policy development by: 2. Commission Actions Regarding Rules and Certain Policy Items for the Week of 3-31-20: High School Equivalency Subsidies (House Bill 3) and Performance-Based Funding (House Bill 1949) Policy Concept Please address feedback to TWCPolicyComments@twc.texas.gov by COB on May 11, 2020. To view currently proposed and recently adopted Commission rules on TWC’s website, go to http://www.twc.state.tx.us/twcinfo/rules/texas-workforce-commission-rules.htmlMarch 27, 2020: New COVID-19 Bill Offers Lifeline for Nonprofit BudgetsDear grantees and stakeholders: In this difficult moment, I know so many of our non-profit provider organizations are struggling financially. Please share this potential support available from federally backed (forgivable!) loans. ----- New $2 trillion Congressional COVID-19 bill offers hope for nonprofit budgets The massive $2.2 trillion spending package just passed by Congress offers a potential lifeline to nonprofit organizations hard-hit by the COVID-19 epidemic. The bill includes $350 billion in loans as part of the "Paycheck Protection Program" to avert layoffs at small businesses and nonprofit organizations. The loans are forgivable -- that is, they will not need to be paid back -- provided that organizations meet requirements for not laying off employees -- that is, maintaining the average size of their workforce pre-epidemic. (Some organizations that have already had to lay off staff will be eligible as well, if they rehire those staff.) However, a 4% interest charge on the loans will need to be paid regardless. The inclusion of nonprofit organizations as eligible entities under the loans provision in the federal bill is critical to adult education, workforce development and human service organizations' capacity to continue to serve clients during this time of crisis. For many local practitioners, the forced move to remote services means they’re helping clients in new ways – often without access to national or state grant funding to provide services like trying to access unemployment claims or meet work requirements associated with SNAP or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits. Organizations are also seeing a wave of new jobseeker clients given the mass layoffs occurring in the hospitality, retail, and other sectors. These loans will be critical to enabling a robust network of training and human service organizations to persist during the crisis, but it will be vital that nonprofits are able to access loan funds and are not penalized as being risky loan recipients based on low capital resources or other standards. National Skills Coalition encourages education and workforce programs to let us know of their successes or challenges in obtaining Paycheck Protection Program loans. March 27, 2020: DRAFT Guidance Serving New Students at a DistanceDear grant recipients, Good afternoon, Attached is draft guidance for serving new students at a distance. Thanks to all who contributed to this! My intention is to have you review it through April 1 to gather your questions and feedback so that when we release the final guidance it is as strong as possible. A feedback survey is included in the attachment. Don’t feel like you have to do that this weekend. I wanted to get this out there early because I know some of you will want to complete it since you’ll be perhaps busier next week. Everybody, have a safe weekend and find some time to relax and enjoy your family and some hopefully nice weather where you are. Serving New Students at a Distance_f March 25, 2020: February Performance ReportDear Grantees, NOTE: Anticipate having a much expanded FAQ document out this afternoon. In our ongoing efforts to keep the trains moving, I wanted to continue to provide regular communication on monthly performance. While we wait for a response and more information from our federal partners on potential performance modifications, we will continue to pull data as we always have and include a footnote (starting with March data) indicating the impact of COVID-19. This will allow us to capture the impact for historical purposes. Attached you will find the February performance reports. Your assigned program support staff will send participant level data to you, as usual. I also want to remind you of the new TEAMS MSG Management Report that is available now! Mahalia Baldini will be completing a recorded webinar that highlights the new functionality and how this report can be used locally to support performance improvement. While the timing of this report may not be ideal as you are all working diligently to establish remote and/or distance learning options for students and little opportunity to provide testing services, it will be a valuable tool once we get back to normal business operations and presents a good opportunity to get to know the report features. Also, be on the lookout for some guidance on enrolling new students during this time when testing to establish eligibility may not be available. We are developing a tool for use in documenting new enrollments! This approach will help us to continue to tell the story of all the thoughtful and innovative practices that are being deployed locally to continue to support our students that need us during this time. Many thank and TWC, the AEL Team, and I greatly appreciate your efforts to keep the trains running! AEL - MPR Summary Report March 21, 2020: Recording- 3.19.20 AEL/TWC Coronavirus UpdateDear grant recipients and providers, Please review the recording of our first 3.19.20 AEL/TWC Coronavirus Update conference call. https://youtu.be/EufgCjXaZl8?t=1 (Excuse the audio problem. Due to technical problems, I had to join by calling Lori Slayton’s phone which she held up to her mic.) I’m working your question into the next version of our FAQ, which we hope to release Monday. As a reminder we have another call next Thursday, March 26th, the bi-weekly call will be held as scheduled with only a slight modification; TCALL will be hosting the call via web-ex. March 20, 2020: Distance Learning and Remote Instructional Support and CallsDear grant recipients and providers, Next Thursday, March 26th, the bi-weekly call will be held as scheduled with only a slight modification; TCALL will be hosting the call via web-ex. An agenda will be sent separately as we get closer to Thursday. As a reminder, Monday we will be hosting a Q&A Forum focused on distance learning and remote instruction. Myself and several of our finest subject matter experts will be available to discuss and respond to your questions from the field. These topics are so critical to the continuation and expansion of Adult Education and Literacy programs that we will hold sessions twice on Monday, see web-ex information below to join us: Been thrust into the brave new world of “remote” education?, we have the session for you! Divided into four 30-minute segments, this webinar includes the ability for participants to join in each of the rooms to check them out. See information below to join us: Wednesday, March 25th 10:00 am – 12:00 pm: Registration is through the PD Portal Events Calendar. See https://tcall.tamu.edu/PD-Portal.html . Support on PD Portal? Contact (800) 441-7323 or PDPortal@TAMU.edu To further assist during this unprecedented time, TCALL has developed and instituted the “Distance Learning Curriculum Help Desk for Teachers,” a group of remote instructors who have volunteered their time to share with you their own experiences with specific TWC-approved Distance Learning Curriculum. This group can be found on the TCALL COVID-19 landing page, or through the direct link here: Although we are in uncertain times, Texas AEL strives to bring quality education to our participants, and we will continue to support you in any way that we can! Onward!March 19, 2020: YOUR SURVEY RESULTS: AEL Updates During COVID-19 PandemicGood evening! These might be helpful for you to see what your peers are doing in response. Texas Provider Data All 200319 March 19, 2020: AEL 05-20, Modifications to Grants Awarded under TWC RFP 320-18-01Good afternoon grantees and providers: Many thanks again for your responsiveness and communication during this period! As discussed in today’s Q&A on responding to challenges that have come up due to the COVID-19 service delays, attached is the AEL Letter 05-20, Modifications to Grants Awarded under TWC RFP 320-18-01, Adult Education and Literacy Service Provider Grant. This letter clarifies that language in RFP 320-18-01 related to a fifteen percent budget restriction for laptops and similar items, is removed, in order to remain consistent with 2 CFR 200 cost principles. As a reminder, all equipment purchases of $5,000 or more must have prior approval and submitted with Form 7100 (attached). Instructions for this can be found on page 3. This letter is posted on the TWC “Workforce Policy & Guidance” page at https://twc.texas.gov/agency/laws-rules-policy/workforce-policy-and-guidance Many thanks to all of you for your questions and clear communications at this time. We look forward to our call with you on Monday. 7100 Request for Purchase Review March 17, 2020: AEL Updates During COVID-19 PandemicDear providers, I know you are all very busy with preparations related to local responses to COVID 19. I want to thank all of you for the valuable feedback you have provided us, and I appreciate the direct communications to me. Please do not hesitate to text or email me at the contact info below. TCALL has worked with my team to develop a COVID-19 response page https://tcall.tamu.edu/index.htm where we plan to post TWC updates today, a FAQ, and distance learning resources. Many thanks to Jorge, Lori and the TCALL team for all their support in building this so fast! Please consult this frequently as events are fast moving. My team is moving to 100% telework, but they do lots of that as you know, so there should be no disruptions.March 16, 2020: Distance Learning Plan Submission Date ChangeDear Grantees, Due to the current circumstances regarding the COVID-19 virus, the deadline for submission of your Distance Learning Plan has been moved from April 15, 2020 to May 31, 2020. This may be pushed out further, depending on how things progress. As we continue to hope for the health and safety of all AEL Grantees, students and stakeholders, you may check for TWC updates on the revised TCALL landing page, here: https://tcall.tamu.edu/index.htm. March 13, 2020: February Data ValidationDear Grantees, Thank you for taking the time to submit the survey on COVID-19 local impact. If you have not yet done so, please take the time to complete it at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AELimpact. After discussions with our Department of Operational Insight (DOI) and external/internal stakeholders, we are notifying you of the following:
We are in discussions and planning for Q3 Data Sign Off and will release another statement early next week after we are able to better understand local decisions for closure and determining potential impact to PBF measure B. Again, thank you for your feedback and ongoing communication as we work through the many unknowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We are with you!March 12, 2020: AEL COVID-19 Impact SurveyTWC is monitoring recent developments of coronavirus (COVID-19) and is evaluating the best course of action for our customers. I will be sure to provide you updates as we learn them. Feel free to text or email me questions (cell: 512-348-5874, anson.green@twc.texas.gov ). In an effort to assist our planning and support to you and your students, I would like to ask you to complete this survey as soon as possible. Grantees who are consortia, please send the survey to your subs. We will be happy to share collected data on subs with the corresponding grantees. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AELimpact March 11, 2020: AEL Evaluation Survey 2020Dear grantees and providers, I hope that some of you who are on spring break are enjoying yourselves and being safe - those going next week will do the same. Attached you will find a survey going out to all AEL providers that I mentioned at our last business meeting and in a recent bi-weekly phone call. If you are a primary contact, please forward this to all of your sub-recipients. Evaluation Survey: TWC AEL and Division of Operational Insight have joined together to evaluate what kinds of services/activities are offered to students during orientation and/or the first three weeks of class instruction. We (TWC) will use that information to evaluate whether some services or a combination of services may be related to better student retention rates and more positive outcomes (i.e. more gains). The findings of this study will then be passed on to the grantees/providers for them to use as potential program improvement techniques. We anticipate completing the study by the end of 2020. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AELevalsurvey2020 Please complete this survey by March 27th .March 3, 2020: January Monthly Performance ReportsDear Grantees, Thank you all for such a great business meeting at TALAE this year! I know we threw a lot of information at you, but we want to ensure you have deep knowledge of how we (TWC) are being measured by OCTAE and how your local efforts support statewide performance. Attached you will find January performance through several reports:
BAEL also sends you a trend of your expenditures by funding group. These reports assist you with having a comprehensive view of grant health. Our expectation is that these are reviewed and analyzed in detail with appropriate staff so that you can develop and implement local strategies of improvement. For example, if your reports are showing that you are exceeding your enrollment targets but not meeting MSG’s or spending your money—you should develop a plan that supports quality improvement on outcomes and expenditures. Maybe this is the purchase of additional supplies, equipment, distance learning needs, etc… Our goal at its core is simple: We want to serve as many Texans each year and lead those individuals to positive measurable outcomes and achievements in academic/literacy gains, post-secondary education and employment. We (TWC) want to support you in this effort and will continue to provide additional data and refined policies and processes. I really appreciate all the feedback received and I continue to marvel at your continued efforts. Keep up the charge! I want to blow the performance away this year and celebrate come July! AEL - MPR Summary Report February 15, 2020: Ad Hoc Distance Learning Plan due April 15thDear Grantees, In the TWC State Distance Learning Policy, AEL Providers have certain requirements for maintaining a Distance Learning (DL) Plan. From the State DL Policy; All AEL providers offering distance learning classes will develop and maintain a Distance Learning Plan, which must be available for review at the request of TWC. AEL providers may have a single plan that includes subcontractors and partner agencies, or it may oversee multiple program plans that consortium members and subcontractors develop themselves. At this time, TWC is requesting an Ad Hoc submission of your Distance Learning Plan to be submitted on April 15th, 2020. Reports should be submitted to the AEL Distance Learning mailbox at aeldistancelearning@twc.texas.gov . If you have questions about submissions, please email the AEL Distance Learning mailbox. The full State Distance Learning Policy may be found here, including Professional Development requirements for all staff participating in DL: To support you in updating/revising your DL plan, we have arranged for Jen Vanek from WorldEd to host a webinar on February 25, 2020 from 12:00 – 1:00pm. Jen is a nationally-renowned Distance Learning expert and will guide us through what a good DL plan should look like and how to revitalize an existing DL plan. Registration for the webinar is through the PD Portal Events Calendar. If you have questions about registration, please contact pdportal@tamu.edu. A copy of the current TWC AEL Distance Learning Plan template is below.January 30, 2020: Performance-based funding winners 2020Dear AEL grantees, The TWC finance office will release the performance based funding hold back in CDER. Grantees who did not earn this performance funding will have these funds removed from their grant at a later date. AEL Total Enrollments PBF Jul 1, 2019 - Dec 31, 2019 (Corrected) January 28, 2020: December Performance ReportDear Grantees, As discussed on the bi-weekly call January 16th, we will begin sharing all the non-participant level data each month as we receive it from our Department of Operational Insight (DOI). I have attached the reports as of December 2019. We are reviewing the reports for the Performance Based Funding (PBF), Measure A (1%) results and will have a separate correspondence to announce the release of those funds. Why are the Exit Based Reports Missing? How can we use these reports?
If you have any questions about the reports, please send them through AELTA@twc.texas.gov We have many exciting things in the works to assist local programs, such as, additional reports and functionality in TEAMS and an extension of data review through an Agency purchased data warehouse—all coming soon-ish! AEL MPR Summary Report - Dec 2020 January 8, 2020: Deploys 1/10/2020 TEAMS 4.8 Full Release Notes_FDear Grantees, In our ongoing efforts to create a more user friendly and WIOA aligned data management system, we have the following updates to share with you. The attached release notes are for you to share with your staff and partners to ensure they understand the changes being made in the system, how it will influence their daily process or provide additional features to support decision making locally. The deployment of these changes will go into effect Friday, 1/10/2020. A summary of the changes include:
The next release (4.9) tentatively scheduled for 2/1/2020 will be a Measurable Skills Gain (MSG) management report. Be on the lookout for additional information and prototypes in the next few weeks followed by webinars on how to use the report! As we continue to strategically plan for updates in TEAMS, our goal is to be as proactive as we can to allow you time to communicate updates and train staff. Looking forward to sharing some exciting new features with you in 2020! 2019November 7, 2019: Save the Date Career Navigator ConveningWe are happy to announce a wonderful resource this winter for our valuable career navigators! PLEASE share with your navigators! More info and registration forthcoming. Also, please submit your ideas to help build the agenda here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/28QMLK7.November 7, 2019: TEAMS 4.6 Release WebinarDear Grantees, We wanted to release a ‘just in time’ webinar to go over the recent updates in TEAMS 4.6 release. The changes in the system were to align system functionality to guidance found in AEL Letter 02-19 and AEL Letter 05-18 (view this policy here). These changes require data that supports the collection of important student information that allows us to continue to remove the TANF eligibility burden for you and support the AEL Combined funding model. This information also supports improved high school equivalency data matches with TEA and performance data collection for exit-based performance measures. We appreciate all the feedback that you provided via the survey and we are working on options to possibly extend the October data entry deadline. Some of you were more impacted than others and we are sensitive to those needs. Please review the webinar or share it with staff that may want additional background on the TEAMS 4.6 release changes. http://twc.adobeconnect.com/p20imgttpy7s/ If you have any questions regarding the release or need assistance, please send inquiries to TEAMS.technicalassistance@twc.texas.gov . Many thanks to our AEL Supervisor Mahalia Baldini, who manages all of the TEAMS system enhancements, and the AEL provider “A-TEAM”, our team of expert TEAMS users and performance accountability experts, who support us in the development of policy and guidance. October 28, 2019: September AEL performance dataGood Morning Grantees! October 22, 2019: Accelerate Texas / Ability to Benefit ConveningAttached are the following items related to the Accelerate Texas / Ability to Benefit Convening: Date: 12/3/2019 (This is a pre-conference to the TWC Annual Workforce Conference) Gaylord Texas Resort and Convention Center Meeting Goals Please make your travel arrangements and plan to join us on December 3rd. The TWC Annual Workforce Conference starts after lunch on Wednesday, December 4th, and we invite you to attend that event as well. October 14, 2019: PY '19-'20 Performance-based Funding MeasuresOn Tuesday, October 8th, the Commission approved the performance-based funding criteria for PY’19-’20 as discussed biweekly conference call. If you have questions, please send them to AELTA@twc.texas.gov . We will be developing a webinar to explain these measures very soon. Categories A and B are similar to measures from previous program years, and Category C is the implementation of new Texas Statute, House Bill 1949, described below. Description: To help ensure that AEL programs meet expectations for the total number of participants to be served, grant recipients will be awarded approximately 33.33 percent of their PY’19 performance-based funding allocations, once approved by the Commission, if they have met 65 percent of the negotiated target for total participants to be served based on their “base” PY’19–’20 allocations (that is, excluding carryforward targets), as approved by the Commission August 27, 2019, by the end of the second quarter.
This measure does not include carryforward targets associated with PY’18–’19 funds. Access to Funds: Funds for achievement of this measure will be released after the second quarter of PY’19, once approved by the Commission. Category B: Measurable Skill Gains (66.67% of PY ’19-’20 PBF) Description: To increase performance in measurable skill gains (MSGs), grant recipients will be awarded approximately 66.67 percent of their PY’19 performance-based funding allocation, once approved by the Commission, if by March 31, 2020, participants enrolled in the first two quarters of the program year meets the grant recipients’ first to third quarter MSG targets (approved by the Commission on August 27, 2019 ).
Access to Funds: Funds for achievement of this measure will be released after the third quarter of PY’19, once approved by the Commission. Category C: HSE or Ability to Benefit Enrollment and Achievement (33.33% of PY’20-’21 PBF for PY’19-’20 Performance) Description: HB 1949 requires the Commission to consider certain criteria when awarding performance-based funding. To receive funding in this category, grant recipients must meet both of the following criteria:
To ensure that AEL grantees meet expectations for HB 1949, they will be awarded approximately 33.33 percent of their Commission-approved PY’20 performance-based funding allocations, once approved by the Commission, if they meet the targets as described. Access to Funds: This category focuses on all participants served in the entire PY and also focuses on those participants who were in an HSE or ability to benefit program and exited during the PY. This means that is it not possible to determine whether a grant recipient qualified for the award until more than 90 days after June 30, 2020, because exit occurs when a participant does not receive AEL participatory services for more than 90 days and that period was not part of a planned gap. To account for the delay in determining results under this category, the Commission will approve and award performance-based funding for this category after the first quarter of the next program year, PY’20. *Consistent with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Credential Rate Denominator, a participant in an HSE program is a participant who reaches an Educational Functioning Level of at least ABE 5 in all domains or takes and passes a portion of the HSE exam. A postsecondary ability to benefit program is a postsecondary credential program for individuals who lack a high school diploma or equivalency, qualify for federal student financial aid, and demonstrate on an assessment instrument, such as the Texas Success Initiative Assessment, that they can pass college-level courses with some support. A forth measure is included to support career pathways toward Measure C, Category D: Milestones in Meeting HSE or Ability to Benefit Enrollment and Achievement is included and will be further define once TWC has sufficient data to establish milestone targets.September 27, 2019: Monthly Performance Report (MPR) for August 2019What a productive meeting we had this week on performance! Thanks for everyone’s contributions. I learned so much about what you are doing. Where you are going, and what you need. I had to end the weak with some Performance! Attached you will find the Monthly Performance Report (MPR) for August 2019. These numbers will include any enrollments/participants by category from July 1-August 31st 2019. Since final targets were not approved by the Commission until August 27th, 2019, we did not supply you with a July MPR. MSG’s Enrollments What is more important is to understand your local trends when recruiting and planning your enrollment periods. We all know that the same number of students do not walk in the door each month, so you have to analyze your peaks periods and plan more heavily for your low enrollment periods—balancing these ebbs/flows will help keep enrollment strong to the end of the program year! I am looking forward to another fabulous year!August 21, 2019: EOY MPR PY 18-19Congratulations on another program year in the books ! We are excited for PY 19-20 and joint efforts for continuing improvements to our outcomes in PY 19-20! In looking at last year’s performance, I wanted to identify some progress we have made in certain areas:
You are carrying the message for Texas and we see you! Review your data against the peers, meet with your leadership teams, ask questions, ask us/me, and develop strategies for conquering your performance challenges. The September institute will focus solely on this. For PY 19-20, I want us to continue our efforts in these areas and laser focus on:
We will be analyzing EOY reports and reaching out to programs who need some technical assistance on targeted areas. Don’t be shy, dialog with men (cell: 512-348-5874). We are all in this together. I’m looking forward to working with you again this year and finding more student success stories for Texans in PY 19-20!2018November 14, 2018: AEL Monthly Performance Report for September 2018As I shared on our last all-grantee phone call, I will begin sharing the monthly performance report (known as the MPR) for all statewide performance. In sharing this, we are working to increase transparency of performance across the state as envisioned under WIOA, as well as help you gauge your performance in the context of other grantees across the state. The performance numbers for your program use the same methodology, and thus are the same, as the program status sheets. We encourage you to use the MPR to work with your staff and / or consortium partners for program improvement and to identify peers for opportunities such as sharing best practices. For now, we will only be sending these via email transmittal. They will not be posted on our website. October 18, 2018: Release of TEAMS Version 3.8We are excited to announce the release of TEAMS version 3.8 on Monday, October 22. TEAMS will be down beginning Friday, October 19 at 6:00 PM as we begin moving the release to the live system. This release contains, for the first time ever, the ability to see an individual’s periods of participation, including when a participant has exited. In advance of the release, we invite you to view this pre-recorded webinar that outlines these changes. The webinar can be viewed here: http://twc.adobeconnect.com/pczgfz29wfgv/ Thank you, and we look forward to this next exciting phase of TEAMS! September 28, 2018: Deliverable 6.8Please find attached the template for deliverable 6.8, Assurance of Full Services Implementation for Adult Education and Literacy Programs. I missed this in our timeline and as a result we are extending the deadline to October 15, 2018. Thanks for your patience and thank you for your continued great work! I visited with several of you this week and am ending the week very impressed! August 30, 2018: Action Required - AEL Enrollment Target NegotiationsAttached to this email you will find your target negotiation tool for PY18-19. Please read the instructions below carefully. Overview of the Target Negotiation Tool
Process
In these rows:
Returning the Tool Due Date Questions Please send all questions related to completing the tool to Carrie Tupa and Adam Leonard, with a copy to freda.jackson@twc.texas.gov , charmagne.coston@twc.texas.gov , and your assigned program specialist. August 29, 2018: Professional Development Plan Template and Revised Staff Qualifications and Training ChartBelow you will find the template to be used to develop your local Professional Development (PD) plan as well as a revised Staff Qualifications and Training Chart. Since this template has evolved considerably over the last few weeks, we are extending the due date for this grant deliverable (6.2) to October 31st, 2018. Our expectations are that your local team responsible for PD, accountability/quality assurance/instruction/DL will work with your assigned PD Specialist and TWC Program Specialist to ensure that not only is this seen as a compliance document to satisfy a deliverable, but more importantly as a planning tool developed after extensive local data analysis and discussion. As you identify target areas based on your analysis, create goals that will aide in addressing and/or improving targeted areas of concern. Please see this as a living document and as goals are being met, it should be revised to ensure that continuous planning is in place. As always, please feel free to reach out to your assigned staff if you have any questions. [Download Attachment 1] [Download Attachment 2] August 14, 2018: Report TemplatesThank you for your patience as we worked to develop a more purposeful and efficient template for the following deliverables as well as revise due dates: 6.1 Detailed Project Plan & Expenditure Projection—Due September 15th, 2018 The attached spreadsheet contains all three deliverable templates along with instructions for how to complete. The first deliverable due is the Detailed Project Plan & Expenditure Projections (6.1). You should submit the entire spreadsheet even though template for deliverable 6.11 and 6.7 will be blank at this time. Moving forward, you will continue to use your Detailed Project Plan to build and report quarterly narrative and sub-recipient monitoring reports. Please make sure you save a copy to your own device and name using your contract number for easy tracking when submitted. For your convenience, a pre-recorded webinar with detailed instructions can be located at this web address: http://twc.adobeconnect.com/p981iw2lm3vi/ . If you still need assistance in completing the template, reach out to your assigned Contract Manager. Again, thank you for your patience. August 14, 2018: Cash Draw and Grant Closeout Packages Due ASAPCDER will be down starting close of business, August 23, 2018 through September 3, 2018 for FY18 closeout. For this reason you will need to ensure that any cash draw requests and/or Grant Closeout Packages are submitted by August 20, 2018. Take into consideration that cash draw requests can also take up to 3 business days to process. Please do not wait and risk missing the deadline! We strongly encourage that you share this with your finance department and anyone else in your institution who will be impacted. Contact your Grant Manager immediately if you have any questions.July 10, 2018: Revise Draft Approach to Collecting MSG for IET ParticipantsIn preparation for the summer institute, I wanted to provide an update on a change we are making related to performance accountability for IET’s. This change will be reflected in a future revision to AEL 01-18, Educational Outcomes for Adult Education and Literacy. MSGs For IET Participants DRAFT REQUIREMENT
Note: The Postsecondary Enrollment MSG (Type 1b) does not apply to participants enrolled in IET because participants in IET do not exit AEL services.
Collecting MSGs that measure basic education competencies will
The revised AEL letter 01-18 (not yet published) will be distributed at the institute and will clarify how IET programs can support participant MSG gains through the alignment of both basic education and workforce training competencies to the IET common learning objectives. July 6, 2018: New Year Now Open in TEAMS!I’m pleased to announce that the new year is open in TEAMS for data entry! Please note some important information related to the new year: Continuing Grant Recipients All Grant Recipients
Please let your program support specialist know if you have any questions, and here’s to a great new year! July 2, 2018: Send Out Q4 Narrative TemplateAttached you will find your last quarterly narrative for RFP 320-14-10. I greatly appreciate the hard work you have all done to build such a successful system for adult learners under TWC first AEL statewide grant award! You have all really delivered in many ways. As stated on the last conference call, the deadline for the submission of these were extended to Monday, July 16th. Also, a reminder your 4th quarter Data Sign Off (DSO), and Sub-Monitoring report are also due July 16th. [Download Attachment] May 17, 2018: TABE 11/12 GuidanceWe have had several discussions about the TABE 11/12 on our grantee phone call, and recently requested feedback from you all via survey monkey. We have finalized our guidance on the implementation of TABE 11/12 and are working on an AEL letter to outline these requirements. In the meantime, I wanted to provide you with this information so that you can plan accordingly in your programs. Why do we have to switch to the TABE 11/12? When will we be required to make the switch from the TABE 9/10 to TABE 11/12?
We haven’t purchased the TABE 11/12 yet. What should we do? Timely preparation is key to avoid disruptions or administrative delays in testing as the 9/10 is phased out. If you are unfamiliar with the new TABE, or just need a refresher, Mike Johnson, Texas’ DRC representative, will be hosting an open webinar on May 24, 2-3 CST. Will TEAMS be ready to collect the new TABE scores beginning July 1? When will training for test administration be available? April 26, 2018: Performance quality improvement awardsThis year, the Texas Workforce Commission’s three-member Commission approved the use of Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) State Leadership funds for performance quality improvement awards to recognize exemplary program performance in three areas: employer partnership, college integration, and high school equivalency achievement. The purpose of these funds is to support AEL grant recipient project performance and innovation by disseminating information about proven models and promising practices. Awardees will be recognized at the 2018 Annual Texas Workforce Conference scheduled for November 28-30, 2018 in Houston. To submit a nomination:
Nomination guidelines, instructions, and forms can be found at: http://www.twc.state.tx.us/adult-education-and-literacy-performance-quality-improvement-awards |
